Everything was in pain…
Everyone was in pain, and that included Tigress.
For the first time in a long time, anywhere in her body that could have pain did have pain: weakness in her shaking legs and muscles that became weaker than a mudslide in a terrible storm, the lungs behind her partly cracked rib-cage, and her head that was spinning consistently in a deep darkness she wasn't accustom to. Of course, there was the exception of her paws: she had lost all feeling in her hands except common pressure a long time ago.

In many cases, it was a blessing, but in other cases, it was a curse.

This was the first time in Tigress' life where she was on the battlefield and pain had taken over her. Alas! She was not only encumbered by the pain in her body, but the pain of the memory that played over and over in her head. Even the ringing in her head and other sounds of the past that brought pain was only comforted by the slow movements of the water: the clashing of metal, the spark that would ignite the flame from the canon, and the last name on her lips before she came to this low state.

His name was not only the last name on her lips, but the name that kept playing over and over in her head the loudest, worried that even pushing him out of the way was not enough to protect him from Lord Shen's cannon again.

Yes, again.

She couldn't see him being shot by the canon again when she was so close. Tigress gave less of a damn if she was dead right now: she couldn't bear the thought of him being gone. After so long, during the hug in the prison, she finally called Po her friend. She couldn't bear the idea of him leaving this world after she came this far with him.

Tigress even accepted the passing thought that maybe they were best friends.

As these thoughts crossed her hazy mind, Tigress could only register pain, numbness, and the board that she had grabbed onto sometime ago: the only thing that prevented her from plummeting to the ocean that had threatened to swallow her up.

All the fight that was in her was now gone.

"Tigress."

There was something in her hand: she wasn't sure what it was, but it must have been connected to the familiar voice that had reached her ears that was just relieved of its painful ringing. Using the strength that she had, she forced herself to open lift her body a little, look up, and open her eyes. The weakness that she carried in those eyes was not oblivious: it was almost as obvious as the moon in the night.

From what she could see, there was a slight blur of white with a hint of black. The thing that stood out the most to her was the jade eyes that looked at her with concern.

She knew those jade eyes: without a doubt, it was Po, and he was alright, right there and taking her nerve-destroyed paw into his own.

This was the curse of her paws: to not be able to feel Po's reassuring feel that he was trying to give her. It's not that his reassurance didn't work, because the truth of the matter was that it did: it just didn't work in the likely manner that Po might believed that it was. The huffs of her breath came to a sigh as she rested her head. She wasn't sure if Po knew this right now, but that last sigh as her eyes closed once again was a sigh of some relief: the rest of it was the defeat she was willing to admit to.

Po was the only sense of hope she had right now: he was okay.

If only Po knew what he was doing to her when she felt the sudden push away. Using what strength that she could, she tried to lift her head, but most of her strength was turned to her other hand, that was reaching out for Po's presence.

At that moment, in the darkness, there was a moment of clarity. As strange and odd it was for her to realize this, her heart finally burst forth towards an interesting revelation.

She needed him.

Maybe that's why not being able to feel his hands hurt the way that it did.

Artist's Comments:

Thank you, once again, for reading another fan fiction of mine, this being number three of all my Kung Fu Panda fictions. Yes, that means I have two others that you are more than welcome to read on : Midnight Kiss and Secrets and Dreams. I have even more on another account: DeviantART. My username is Moonspirit10. I have more one-shots of a different category, but only Banjo-Kazooie (Bazooie), Digimon (CanonxOC), Littlest Pet Shop (Sepper), Regular Show, and a Rise of the Guardians/Frozen Crossover (Jelsa).

Well, I think this is one of the shortest one-shots I have ever done. Then again, you can say that this was a rather short idea, being inspired by a user off of DeviantART (pepoluan), and a one-shot: "...don't leave me..."

May God's love, grace, and mercy be with us all.