Disclaimer: I don't own Kung Fu Panda. I don't own anything except my OCs.

Tigress couldn't sleep.

That in itself was unusual — since she rarely had time to catnap during the day, she was always out like a light within minutes of getting into bed. Granted, Mr. Ping was staying at the Jade Palace and he was clearing his sinuses loudly as if he wanted to keep everyone awake. But since his last visit, each of the Furious Five, along with Shifu, had come up with a different way to avoid staying up the whole night.

No, it wasn't Mr. Ping's fault that she couldn't sleep. Tigress had been restless ever since she had returned from the secret panda village to the destroyed Jade Palace. Most of the buildings had been restored, but the knowledge inside of the Palace was gone, except for what was kept elsewhere. Everything was suddenly too quiet and too small. She had felt the same way before Shifu took her from the Bao Gu Orphanage and after she defeated Boar with the Five, when Shifu criticized the way she had fought.

Creeping out of her room, Tigress quietly padded down the hallway, careful where she stepped. The wood floor was mostly old and creaky, except for the parts that had been broken and replaced. Even though she could normally move down this hall without making noise, Tigress held her breath.

"Tigress?"

It was Po. Of course it was. Torn between turning around and ignoring her friend, Tigress toppled over herself in an extremely undignified way and crashed to the floor. She stayed there until she was sure no one had been woken up and then got up, ignoring Po's outstretched paw and profuse apology.

"I'm fine," Tigress growled.

"Oh. Okay." Po stared at his feet. "I'm sorry if my dad woke you up."

The words sent a pang of anger flaring through Tigress, and she found herself stalking towards Po, forcing him to back up until he bumped into a wooden pillar. "It has nothing to do with you or your father," she said irritably. "I just need some air."

Po, who had shrunken down a little, looked up into Tigress's eyes. "Can I come?"

"No." Tigress moved away from the panda, her face perfectly calm. Then she disappeared into the darkness, leaving Po alone in front of his room. She quietly headed past Shifu's quarters so that he wouldn't notice her leaving and slipped out of the student barracks.

Her tail kept on twitching jerkily, a sign that she was upset, as she slowly turned her steps towards the training hall. Maybe she could work off some steam. Surprisingly, Tigress was saddened by the idea — the fact that the only thing that would make her feel better was hitting something. When Po was upset, at least he had his father. Fathers, now that he had met Li Chan. Actually, all of the Five except her had a family. Even though Viper's family lived nearby, the snake rarely found time to visit, but at least she knew her parents. Crane had a relationship with his mother, although she hated kung fu. Monkey's mother had died some years ago. And yes, Mantis's mother had eaten his father, but he had a parent. Tigress had…nobody, really.

Not even Shifu.

Shifu already belonged to someone.

All she'd ever wanted since Shifu adopted her was his approval. His pride. His love. She had gotten little or none of it — Tai Lung had. Shifu loved Tai Lung like he had never loved anything before or since, wasn't that what she had told Po a lifetime ago? Tigress was an orphan after all, just like Tai Lung; perhaps there was someone out there who loved her just as much as Shifu had loved Tai Lung.

Maybe that was what she was missing — love. And as much as she loved Po and Shifu and the Five (although she never would say it aloud), as much as she considered them her family, she wanted to know who she was.

Tigress squared her shoulders, found herself at the peach tree — Oogway's tree — and stopped for a moment to look back in the direction of the barracks. She had aimed to wind up at the training hall, but her paws had carried her to the tree. Tigress hadn't been here for years. For a moment she stood there frozen, wondering what her friends would do when they realized she was gone.

They would probably try to follow her, and eventually they would find her.

Which meant Tigress would have to be especially careful. She knew she would want her friends' help at some point, but not immediately. She had to leave now if she wanted a good head start — dawn was still hours away.

"I'll be back," Tigress whispered. It was unnecessary; the Jade Palace was her home, and she would always return. She had left while on missions for Shifu hundreds of times before. The only thing different about this time was that it wasn't for her master. It was for Tigress. And now that she was alone, she could admit that she was scared out of her wits.

"I'll be back," Tigress repeated louder, hoping the wind would carry her words to the rest of the Five and to Po.

Tigress stared down the cliff face. Below her, the Valley lay slumbering and peaceful. Narrowing her amber eyes, she zeroed in on a place to land — in this case, the roof of a house near the outskirts of the village. After taking a breath to steel her nerves, Tigress jumped over the lip of the cliff. The wind tore at her fur and her eyes as she fell, but she didn't dare look away. Landing smoothly and quietly where she wanted to, Tigress slid down the roof of the house and dropped into a crouch — right in front of an unsuspecting baby pig, who immediately latched on to her leg.

"Um…hello," Tigress said warily. Even years after she left Bao Gu, she could still remember how much the children had feared her and how hard she had worked to earn their trust.

"Are you Tigress?" the child asked excitedly.

"Yes. Now, if you don't mind — " Tigress began, trying to break away from the pig by shaking her leg, but the child only hung on harder in a way reminiscent of Lei Lei, the baby panda from Po's village that had grown attached to her.

"I'm Fu," the pig told her. "Are you going to fight something? Can I watch?"

"No and no." Tigress shook leg once more. "Look, I really need to go."

"Awww…" Fu cried.

Tigress saw the tears forming in the young pig's eyes and she sighed, lifting the pig up slightly and resting him on her knee. Fu disentangled himself from her and sniffled, wiping his nose on the sleeve of his tattered tunic. "Here," she said. "Can you do something really important for me?"

Fu brightened immediately. "Anything!"

"If my friends — if you see the Dragon Warrior or Master Shifu or the rest of the Furious Five, tell them I went back to where it began. They will understand. Promise me you will tell them, Fu?"

"Sure…but what if I don't see them?"

Tigress smiled slightly. "Then you go up to the Jade Palace. Tell them Master Tigress sent you. They'll listen, I promise you that." She glanced at the sky, where the moon was full and high and smiling down on her. "Now run along home. It's late."

Fu hoped off of Tigress's knee and ran down the street. Near the corner, the child whirled around and waved goodbye to her before disappearing around the bend. Tigress stood quickly, brushing the dirt from her clothing. Even though she wasn't very hungry, she figured she should eat something.

As soon as she got to Bao Gu Orphanage.

…

"I don't see how I can help you, Master Tigress," the old sheep said, leaning back in her chair. "It's been a long time since you were last here, and we don't keep records of the children who arrive at the Orphanage."

"I know." Tigress scuffed her feet against the ground, distinctly uncomfortable. She hadn't been to Bao Gu since Shifu adopted her as a cub, but she remembered the layout perfectly. Just like she remembered everything about the room she had been kept in because she frightened the other kids so much. "I hoped you might remember something about when I was left here."

"Master Tigress, that was over twenty years ago — "

"Please." Tigress put her paw on the old sheep's shoulder. "Anything could be important."

The old sheep sighed and closed her eyes. "You weren't left on the doorstep, like many orphans," she said. "Your parents brought you to my office and asked me to take you in. They didn't give their names, just told me that you were called Tigress."

"What did they look like?"

"They looked like tigers," the old sheep said. "On the younger side. The mother moved like she was in pain — your father was the one carrying you. And they were both scarred."

"So, they potentially came from an area with a lot of violence. Maybe from someplace at war?"

The old sheep nodded. "That would make sense. Both of your parents carried weapons, I believe. A sword of some kind, or maybe a bow. I can't remember, it was so long ago."

"Did they happen to mention the name of a village?" Tigress asked, working to keep the hope out of her voice. She was so close; if her parents had given her directly to the head of the Orphanage, surely it meant that they cared about her. At least enough to make sure she was safe.

"No, but I think your parents said they were traveling from a town over the mountains to the north," the old sheep replied. She stared into Tigress's face and smiled, taking the big cat's paws in her hooves. "I'm sorry I couldn't have been of more help to you."

Tigress smiled back slightly. "You have helped me greatly. Thank you."

"Maybe you could come visit the Orphanage again," the old sheep offered. "I'm sure the children would appreciate a visit from one of the Furious Five."

"I'll certainly talk to the others and to my master about it." Tigress stepped away from the old sheep, took another look around the Orphanage. It seemed brighter then when she had lived there; or maybe it was just because the Orphanage had never been a bright place for her. However uncomfortable Tigress felt, the place still had a certain familiarity. It was the first place she'd ever met Shifu; it was her first home. "Again, thank you so much for your help."

"It was nothing," the old sheep said. "Goodbye, Tigress."

Tigress bowed to her before slipping out into the darkness. It was good of the old sheep to wake and answer Tigress's questions in the dead of the night, and she had given Tigress more than she could ever have hoped for. There couldn't be too many villages that had been at war over twenty years ago.

…

As it turned out, there were fifty.

"Are you sure?" Tigress pressed, pacing back and forth, tail lashing. In front of her, the librarian of the Valley's school was blinking blearily as he bent over a scroll.

"I'm positive, Master Tigress," the librarian said, who happened to be a rabbit. A very tired one at that. Some deep, primal urge inside of Tigress urged her to leap on the poor thing and tear it to shreds, but she pushed it aside. The feeling reminded Tigress that she was hungry — she had completely forgotten to eat at Bao Gu.

"Can you look for any wars involving tigers or villages in the north?"

The rabbit sighed and read the scroll once more. After a few minutes, he looked up at Tigress. "Tiger villages are often isolated, so there are little or no records of them. And even if there were, they would be at the Jade Palace, not here." The minute the words left the rabbit's mouth, he looked up at Tigress

Tigress slammed her paws down on the librarian's desk, tired and hungry and more than a little annoyed. "I know where the records would be," she growled. "Just tell me what you have found."

The rabbit swallowed nervously. "Like I said, there aren't many records — "

Tigress growled and put her face in her paws. "You told me what there isn't. Can you tell what there is?"

The librarian hurriedly pushed away some of the scrolls crowding his desk before finally finding the right one. "Let's see," he muttered to himself. "There are fifteen known villages to the north of the Valley. Of those, only nine are recorded as having a war over twenty years ago."

"Do you have the names of the villages?" Tigress asked a little desperately.

"No, but — "

"A map, then?"

"That I do." The rabbit turned the scroll he was examining so that it faced Tigress. "Those nine villages are here," he said, circling the points with a quill, "and this is us." He drew a star on another point. "You have a long journey ahead of you if you plan to go there."

Tigress ignored the rabbit. "The villages are so close. Were they at war with each other?"

Clearing his throat, the librarian said, "Yes. It has been reported that the villagers battled with katana and tore at their enemies' throats with their teeth. There was no real proof to back these claims, and no one dared travel to the villages."

Examining the map once more time, Tigress looked at the rabbit. "May I take this?"

"Of course," the librarian squeaked as she rolled the scroll up. "May I ask what your interest in those particular villages is?"

"I don't believe that it is your business." She glared at the rabbit until he was shaking. "But thank you for your help," Tigress added quickly, just because she could imagine Viper's disapproving expression. "If any of the Five come to you looking for me, tell them where I am going."

Breadcrumbs. Tigress doubted they would think she was in serious trouble for days, three at the most. Which meant she would have a three-day head start. And she was sure they wouldn't think to ask the librarian for another three or four, giving her at most week. Assuming Tigress had found the village by then, which was unlikely, she would have another week before the Five caught up with her. That was if everything went smoothly — which nothing ever did.