Prodigal Girl

Going home is more difficult when we've done something wrong. The two lovers decided to split ways and go to their homes separately. Rua bowed timidly before Mama Yun, pressing her head to the ground as she recounted her tale. The large blind elephant gave a large sigh. "I'm guessing Viper already gave you her lecture."

"How... how did you know?"

"You've only been my girl for a little while. I've seen this situation play out time and time again, especially in your case," Yun replied. Po, Mantis, and Tigress were present with her while the others were with the princess at the official's palace. Yun gave another sigh. "The official might want to murder you for your stunt. If your princess lover is as honest as you have been, I will have to find a way to hide both of you. Of course, that won't be easy."

"Nothing about this has been easy," Tigress muttered.

"Why do you say that, child?" Mama Yun asked. The whole room stared at the striped feline. Tigress kept forgetting how good Mama Yun's hearing was.

Sighing, she finally said, "This whole situation has been... confusing. First, we learn that Po and Viper know you like family. Then, they take over the situation and show us we're the naive ones here. I just..." She sadly looked at Po. "I just...I thought I knew my friends."

Po sighed, mirroring her frown.

"Your friends aren't there for them to know you," Yun said. "Friends are there for you to be with them. They don't care if you know everything or nothing about them. Let me ask you this, child. Do you like being around Po because you know a lot about him, or because he's great to be around?"

Tigress's head turned to the warmly smiling panda. She returned that warm smile with a small chuckle. "Something to keep in mind whenever you have doubt," Yun finished.

"Now what do we do?" Mantis asked.

"We wait for the others. If they bring bad news, we'll have to orchestrate a completely new tactic. And drain our treasury... again," Yun grumbled.

"You've done this before?" Tigress asked.

"Too many times," Po sighed, "That's why Viper was so upset with them. Maoqi's still just as responsible, but Rua knew better from experience. She's the one to blame here the most."

"Enough," Yun firmly said, ushering Rua to her side in a hug, "I won't let you kick the girl while she's already down. You and Viper can be very stern with your discipline."

"Mama Yun, we have to be. If people like Woo Sun had really kidnapped them, things would've been much worse," Po looked at all the girls, "You guys are in a dangerous world, and I'm trying my best to make it a little better for everyone." He went to Rua. The ferret-badger's head still faced the ground, but the panda pulled her head up. "And I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at what you did. We still care about you, Rua. No matter what."

Rua's lip quivered. She clasped to Po's waist and sniffled. "I'm sorry."

"I know," Po sighed, rubbing her head. "I know."

The large elephant smiled, "You really have matured, Po."

"No, I'm still the dorky panda with his action figure collection."

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Yun laughed with the rest of the girls. Just then, Wenrou, the large gorilla guard, opened the door to a familiar snow leopard, crane, snake, and simian.

"Well?" Po asked.

The snow leopard gave a large sigh before a mongoose squeezed between them and ran over to hug Rua. "A lot happened."

"Good or bad?"

"The official wasn't happy to hear everything. The other princesses weren't too thrilled about her either. She broke a lot of hearts when she left," Tai Lung grunted, slightly glaring at the mongoose. "But luckily for us... the Emperor was there."

"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed.

"What did he say?" Tigress asked.

"He said that since the princess was so set on doing this, and since she's one of many princesses, it was fine for her to find her one true love," Tai Lung said stiffly, "He ordered the official to release the girl from her arranged marriage and let her go on her way."

"Oookay," Po replied, "Then why aren't you happy about it?"

"Before we left, the Emperor told us that the official might be too stubborn to let even one of his princesses go. So he might send people to get the princess back."

"So we're allowed by the Emperor but dogged by this official?" Po guessed. Tai Lung nodded. "Great."

"I'm so sorry, Rua. I should've never-"

"No, no, it's my fault, Maoqi. I started this whole mess."

"It doesn't matter who's responsible right now," Viper said, slithering to Po's side. "We have to figure out where to hide you two."

"Why not let them go back to their house?"

"Unprotected?" Po said to Tai Lung. "No, we have to figure out how to protect them, at least for the next five years."

"Actually, there is someone in that area that could protect them," Mama Yun smiled. Po and Viper side-glanced each other.

"Who?"

"Do you remember Jin?"

"Yeah he... Oooohhhh no," Po groaned, covering his hand with his face. "Mama Yun anyone but him."

"He would be perfect," Yun said.

"Who's Jin?" Viper asked.

"He's a friend of mine who used to live here. He was so terrible at flirting," Po groaned.

Yun chuckled, "He's matured just like you have. He's become quite the warrior."

"That doesn't make me feel better."

Tigress smirked, "It will have to do, Po. This... Jin will protect Rua and Maoqi for a while, at least until we're sure that nothing bad happens to them."

"Alright, alright, fine," Po sighed while he heard the other girls giggle.

Viper slithered up to the two lovers and smiled, "I hope you two will mature your relationship after this."

"We will... thank you, Master Viper and Dragon Warrior," Rua bowed.

They finally said their goodbyes to the Worldly Brothel and left, but couldn't escape one last hug from the big gorilla guard. "OOoff! My back!"

"I didn't hug you that hard!" Wenrou whined.

"Nah, I'm just kidding. I'll miss you guys. I'll try and come by more often."

"Not alone I hope," Tai Lung smirked. The panda glared with a silent flame of rage in his green eyes. "Respectfully, I mean."

Wenrou laughed, patting Po on the back. "You're too protective of these girls, you know. Besides, by the look of his age, Mama Yun would love him."

The others laughed while Tai Lung sulked. The team finally went back to the Jade Palace crossing the mountain terrain. Tigress saw the panda's calm gentle smile staring at the clouds. "I'm glad you two got to see your... family again," She said.

"Yeah, I really missed those guys."

"I hope the whole thing wasn't too much for you guys," Viper said worriedly.

"Are you kidding? It was amazing! I've never seen you two like that. Ohh man! I'm staying around you two from now on!" Monkey chattered. The whole team laughed while Tigress watched on from the rear, bearing a tiny smile of her own.

They got back to the Jade Palace and told Shifu everything. Needless to say, he wasn't totally surprised since he did send Viper and Po there once. "But why didn't you tell us?" Monkey asked.

"I feared you might get... distracted," Shifu smirked.

As time wore on, there was one person who still tried to understand their feelings about the whole affair.

Sitting at the tree, she stared into the night air. Stars twinkled above while her striped arms crossed over her tucked legs. The green-covered mountains dotting the sea of clouds interrupted her view of the valley below. "I was wondering if you were up here," Said a voice behind her. Tigress saw her two friends coming up. Sighing, she allowed the snake and panda to sit on either side of her.

"What are you two doing here?" She asked.

"We just wanted to make sure you were okay. Well... Po wanted to come up here but... uh..."

The panda sighed with a small smile, "Viper, I don't get those feelings anymore, okay? I haven't had those feelings in years."

"Still. I just... want to make sure you're okay," Viper replied. The panda smiled. "But enough about Po. How are you doing? You haven't said anything since we returned from Mama Yun and that was two days ago."

The tiger stared into the grass underneath. Her body rose and fell with her breath for a still moment, "I don't know anything about you."

"Tigress, you remember what Mama Yun said."

"I remember, Po. But... I never thought I'd see those sides of you."

Viper sighed, "I'm sorry you had to."

"I don't regret it. I... I liked seeing it. Especially Po's," Tigress smirked, "I didn't think you of all people could actually be... scary."

"Hey! I'm scary! When these fists of awesomeness start going, villains don't know what hit them! WHAHI!"

The ladies hid their chuckles. "It just feels like... all my time knowing you two was... wrong or wasted," Tigress sighed.

"We don't expect you to know every single part of us, Tigress," Viper tenderly said. "Just like we don't know every single part of you."

The tiger frowned, staring at the rising moon. "That just proves my point."

"Tigress, if you knew everything about someone, that doesn't mean you know them that much. Like, everyone knows stuff about the Emperor but they don't know him personally," Po explained.

Tigress sighed. He was right, though she didn't want to admit it. But one question remained.

"Then how do I stop feeling like this?"

"Feeling like what?" Viper asked.

"I feel like I don't know anything about my friends. Like I'm... around strangers," Tigress asked. Viper cast a worried look to Po. The panda tapped the side of his face in thought. His eyes lit up as an idea seemed to spark in his mind.

"Get to know them every day. Remember that people change over time." Tigress looked at him. "You got used to a certain way that Viper and I act, which is fine. But that doesn't mean we're like that all the time. People are much more complicated than that. They change over time. Master Shifu isn't the same guy who adopted you, and he's not the same guy when Tai Lung left. People change. The best thing you can do is to see the change, accept it, and then move from there."

Tigress found herself smiling. "Sometimes, I forget how wise you can be."

"See, that only proves my point," Po smirked. The tiger rolled her eyes while her serpentine friend snickered.

"There is something I've been meaning to ask you, Po. If you were around women like that for a long time, why don't you have a girlfriend?"

"BwAHahaha," Viper quickly covered her lips with her tail. The panda glared at the scaly warrior. Tigress looked from Viper to Po in confusion. "I'm sorry, it's just... Po is naturally a very interesting person with the ladies but Mama Yun's girls were always trying to find him a date. It was so hilarious!"

"VIPER!"

"I didn't mean to laugh, Po. It just made me remember all the ways they tried to... 'help' you."

"Please don't remind me. I would like that chapter of my life buried in the dirt, okay?" He grumbled.

"Okay, okay," Viper giggled.

The feline smiled softly, "I'm honestly amazed that you two had this kind of relationship and I didn't know."

"Every relationship is going to be different, Tigress. Even friendships," Viper said. "Your... whatever it is that you have with Tai Lung is much different than your friendship with Po."

"What is the... ship you have with Tai Lung? I can never figure it out. Are you guys like frienemies?* Or siblings?"

"We're people who live in the same place with shared... experiences," Tigress explained.

"Ah, trauma buds," Viper and Po said at the same time.

The feline's eyes narrowed and glared. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It's something that would happen with Yun's girls whenever they would have a bad experience," Viper explained. "They didn't know each other past the fact they both shared a deep pain, so that's why we call it trauma buds."

"Don't worry, Mama Yun wasn't a fan of the term either," Po chuckled.

"So what was it like being with Mama Yun?" Tigress asked.

"Other than the constant backache from Wenrou's roughhousing? She keeps forgetting how strong she is. Like someone I know," Po huffed at the smiling tiger.

"It was nice," Viper said. "A big family of different experiences. And before you ask, no we didn't learn any... special techniques when it came to sensual intimacy."

"You didn't?" Po asked. Viper and Tigress snapped their wide-eyed heads to the panda. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! It's okay, the girls just taught me the basics. Flowers, kindness, loving affection. Nothing major."

"But... what about... intimate techniques?" Viper asked slowly.

"Nothing other than focus on what the other person wants, don't get caught in your head, be present, and take your time."

Viper gave a small sigh of relief. "That's better advice than most."

"Some of the girls mentioned a seamstress," Tigress said. "Was that you?" Viper nodded. "I thought you-"

"I actually can. It's just extremely difficult. Since the pandas have moved in, I've largely outsourced it so I have more time to do the stuff I can do easily," Viper explained. "I had some girls who knew how to style and dress. So, I always had help."

"I see."

"Wow, even I didn't know that," Po added.

Viper smiled, "We don't know everything about each other. But that's the exciting thing. It would be a dull world if there was nothing to learn."

The panda and tiger returned her smile and lifted their heads to watch the slow-moving moon sliding across the night sky.

Continued...

*A/N: I honestly got corrected by spell-check for this word. I didn't know frienemies was an official word. I apologize to people who are trying to learn English.