Needed a short break from "Scarlet Jade", so I made this cute story! I haven't abandoned it, don't fret. In fact, I'' be continuing it all throughout Thanksgiving break! Enjoy!

Tigress was staring up at the dark night sky - the twinkling of the stars reflecting off the luminosity of her bright orange eyes. She was lying on her back, paws neatly folded over her muscular lower chest, and her relatively short hind legs were lying naturally atop the grassy earth. Her overall position was non-defensive. She was at peace, breathing deeply through her nose and enjoying this small bit of solitude by herself.

The tiger warrior was experiencing this moment out in the open gardens behind the Jade Palace. There were sparkling pools, natural rock formations surrounding said bodies of water (that warmed up nicely on a sunny day), and a large grassy knoll that served well for meditation purposes, she found. She listened to the gentle gurgling of the fresh water streams sliding between the pebbles and rocks around it. She could even hear the light sound of leaves falling from the trees overhanging the pools and touching their surfaces - creating vibrating ripples and disturbing the peaceful stillness that had once engulfed it. There were hardly any limits to the sounds that the tiger's ears could pick up. Her warrior status demanded it. It was simply another asset to the collection of skills she had gained in her twenty years of training.

She let out a pleased sigh, a small grin appearing on her muzzle as she closed her eyes momentarily and then reopened them to look back at the illuminated sky. Then suddenly, her well-trained hearing picked up the sense of heavy running, panting, and distress.

She lifted her orange head from the grass and turned it towards the direction she was sure it was coming from (the right, where the light of the Jade Palace kitchen could be spotted). Tail swishing and twitching with anticipation, she quickly rose to her paws and prowled to a nearby tree and scaled it with extreme ease. The large feline made it up there in a matter of seconds and hid herself behind a shield of leaves and branches. Bright eyes were peeking out from the concealing darkness, scanning the grounds for any signs of instability.

Pant, pant…slip, "Whoa!"

The sound of scratching gravel inferred someone was running.

When the object finally came into full hearing, it was hard to tell exactly what it was. It was either wearing a dark robe/garments or was completely covered in back fur. Scratch that – there were a few blotches of white added to the mix – typically in the head and chest area. To the untrained eye, this would have been a detailed description of the person coming closer and closer to the tree a specific feline was sitting in, watchfully. But for said feline, she was looking at the Dragon Warrior as if he were in broad daylight.

Yes, Po was the blob of a creature making such a racket and a fuss. Tigress noticed that he had trouble running (more than usual) due to the fact that he was carrying a load of something in his big arms. His head swiveled around him in every direction and his panicked breath wore him out. Both the tiger and the panda picked up another faint cry in the distance; traveling on the same path that Po had come from.

"Po! Po, I'm gonna find you!" came the threatening call.

The black and white warrior gasped and sought immediate refuge behind the nearest thing he could see in the night darkness. He squeezed himself behind the same tree that Tigress was up in, trying to decrease some of his body mass in order to fit the thinner silhouette of the trunk.

The pair of glowing orange eyes swiveled down towards the Dragon Warrior, taking note of him, and then returned back when Monkey came into the original setting. The primate scanned the shadowy environment for a moment– a look of pure outrage and determination etched on his face.

"Po!" he yelled again with more fierceness than before. "Get out here, you big lummox! You know I'll find you!"

Tigress' gaze diverted between the two male warriors, attempting to understand the situation. But from the look of sterling terror on the panda's face, it made her rethink her actions as to let the indignant primate catch a hold of his victim. Without another lulling thought, Tigress silently reached for a displaced twig growing out from an almost dead branch and snapped it off with a defiant twist of her wrist. Then, with perfect aim, launched it into a jungle of small bushes a few paces ahead of Monkey. The twig landed with a loud rustle, immediately catching Monkey's attention. A sense of devious pleasure immediately overcame him as he broke for the direction of the sound.

"Ha-ha! Got you now, panda!"

Watching him leave, a swell of triumph filled Tigress – even bringing a small smirk to her face. A piercing exhale of relieved breath reverted her attention to the panda she knew was directly below her. With a loud thud, she guessed that he must have decided to sit himself down (and in the most ungraceful manner possible, she would have liked to add). She repositioned herself in order to see the panda in better view – looking straight down as if she were hovering right over him.

"He still doesn't know that I'm here," she said inwardly.

Then, she managed to catch a glimpse of the object – or objects he was still hoarding after his escape from Monkey. She would have snorted disbelief if she hadn't thought it would have revealed her, when she saw a collection of about twenty almond cookies resting in the panda's flabby embrace.

Po's panting subsided and ended with one last, giant exhale. He slumped against the tree, silently thanking the gods above for the miracle that he had witnessed. He then glanced back at the many almond cookies he had managed to break away with. Picking a particularly large one and holding it up to his face, he smiled, licked his lips, gave it a small sniff, and placed it favorably into his mouth.

But before he could even start chewing the baked good…WHOOSH! A large, orange, and red mass came rushing down to the ground, barely skimming his left arm. He toppled over on his other side in shock, sending the other almond cookies tumbling to the ground on all sides – a few, however, managing to remain scattered on the panda's large belly.

Po lifted himself back into his original seated position, but now in a coughing fit because the almond cookie had lodged itself in his throat.

Tigress straightened herself up but remained in her crouched position – eyeing the now choking panda with a raised brow.

"So that's the reason why Monkey was chasing you!" she chastised him.

The Dragon Warrior, still choking and coughing like a madman, began pounding a heavy fist onto his chest, hoping to dislodge the object. He turned to Tigress and with one, final, unintentional HACK!, the almond of the cookie came flying out of his throat.

Tigress grimaced as she expertly placed her right paw in front of her face, meaning to easily knock side the piece of food, but instead getting a nasty surprise when she discovered that the saliva attached to the almond stuck itself to the front of Tigress' paw – meshing and oozing into the white fur surrounding her pads.

"Ugghh, Po!" she hissed, flailing her paw around until the almond and the access saliva were well off of her.

"Heh,…*pant*…sorry, but…*pant*…did you have to…*wheeze*…make an entrance…*pant*…like that?" The panda said in intervals while holding his chest and looking at her.

Tigress' brows lowered threateningly and scoffed at his reaction. "I'd hardly call that gratitude for me saving your behind, again!"

"What do you mean?" He added now that he had regained his breath.

Tigress rolled her eyes, "Who else do you think distracted Monkey while you made off with all his cookies?"

Po's expression turned confused, but when he looked in the direction Tigress motioned at, he eventually understood, his eyes growing wide. "Ooohh…" he trailed off while smiling sheepishly at the tiger. "Sorry. I guess I owe you one."

Tigress slowly softened her expression at his apology and chuckled to herself, "Hmm, I guess so."

Po smiled when he saw her loosen up. He then offered her a cookie that was resting on his chest, holding it out for her in his paw, "You want one?"

She eyed it for a second before looking back at him, shaking both her hand and her head. "No, that's all tight. Thank you, though," she paused, sensing Po shrug and pop the cookie whole in his mouth. "I didn't come out here to snack on stolen cookies."

"Hey!" he interjected with his mouth full. The panda swallowed and pointed a finger at Tigress. "I didn't steal them, per say! I was only gonna take one when Monkey caught me and I accidentally dropped the jar and it broke! I had no other choice but to take them all! That's when he started chasing me."

Tigress let out another light laugh and relaxed herself against the tree, "Call it whatever you want, Po."

The Dragon Warrior successfully swallowed another cookie and was preparing to gobble a third when he asked suddenly, "Hey, you know what I'm doing out here, what about you? I thought for sure you'd be training or something."

The large feline shifted her position so that her knees were close to her chest and her arms rested on top of them. "I normally would be, but…" she trailed off, unsure about how to finish.

Po stopped chewing and began eyeing her suspiciously. "But…?"

She glanced at him, blinked, and then rose to her four paws and prowled out onto the moonlit, grassy knoll. She sat down, retaining her cat-like posture and stared up at the glowing sky with calm interest. "The stars," she uttered, barely above a whisper. "They looked especially beautiful tonight."

Po watched her movements attentively, hardly acknowledging his almond cookies anymore. He got up and resettled himself next to the female tiger on her right, sitting less elegantly than she, but gazing the whole time at the sky. This was the first time, in the whole night that he had noticed all the stars.

"Whoa…" he commented. "You're right, they are!"

Tigress turned to him, expression unreadable. "You probably think it's silly: me, wasting my time watching the stars –"

"What? No, of course not. Why would I think that?"

Giving her whiskers a twitch, she remained silent for a while before lying on her back in the same position she was in before she was interrupted by Po's little fiasco. "No reason."

Po didn't fully believe her answer but decided not to indulge. Instead, he hesitated in asking, "Hey, um…you wouldn't mind some company, would you?"

Tigress frowned for a quick moment before smirking up in his direction. "No, Dragon Warrior, not at all."

Smiling happily, the panda laid down beside her, mimicking her position respectively: paws over belly/chest and feet sprawled out comfortably. Tigress continued to grin, sensing the black and white warrior's politeness in trying to make her feel comfortable in his presence next to her. She nestled herself deeper into the cool earth beneath the grass the way one does with the side of their face into a soft pillow.

A quiet serenity overcame them as they both simply gazed up at the meshing plethora of glimmering dots in the black night sky.

"Po, please; that does not look like bok choy!" Tigress laughed, harder than Po had ever heard her before, with a grin never leaving her muzzle.

The black and white warrior laughed too as he joined in on the fun. He pointed to said cluster of stars, "Yeah, it totally does! Look, those are the leaves right there, and that clump makes up the stems!"

Tigress' chuckling subsided, "You've just got food on your mind!"

"Maybe! But I've been cutting vegetables since before I wore pants! I think I know what bok choy looks like, and I'm tellin' ya, it looks like that!"

"Hmmm, you may be right about that, Dragon Warrior," Tigress admitted, giving the sky a thoughtful glance. "And I suppose it kind of does – if you squint, that is."

Both the panda and the tiger had been laughing and lying together on the moon illuminated, grassy knoll for hours…or what seemed like hours. To be honest, they had lost track of time, and the night sky certainly couldn't tell them what time of the day it was. They started out silent and watchful, but after a few moments, Po couldn't help but start a game of "what does that group of stars look like?" To his surprise, Tigress willingly played along with him, offering her own interpretations of the glimmering, swirling clumps she saw in the sky.

Her enthusiasm intrigued him. There were instances where she seemed positively…cub-like – a side to her that he didn't know she still possessed. The panda enjoyed it, however, pleased to be making her laugh every now and then.

"The one next to it looks like a shuriken, don't you think?" the tiger proposed, pointing a claw to a particular starry image.

"Hey, it does!" exclaimed Po as he followed her gaze - brightening excitedly, "Oh gods, you spotted a good one! Maybe it's about to chop up my bok choy and make a sweet bowl of soup!"

"Maybe…" Tigress agreed slowly, sighing in a relaxed tone and still smirking slightly. She allowed her well-rounded muscles to release their tension all together, letting the gentle prickling of the grass brush against her fur, and the tip of her tail swish lazily between her sprawled feet.

Po unwound too at the sound of the feline's sigh - patting his belly and grinning. His green eyes darted between the sky and Tigress for a second before he announced, "You know, I never expected you to like playing this game."

Tigress raised a brow playfully at him, "I was a cub once too, you know. Don't misjudge me."

"Oh—no, I would never – I just –"

"It's fine. I understand," the tiger reassured him, not in an even slightly angry tone. "Playful and childish aren't really the first words someone would choose to describe me. But this was exactly my favorite thing to do when I was small." Tigress sighed nostalgically, giving her whiskers a brisk twitch. "It brings back some happier memories…"

"Heh, yeah, I used to do this all the time with my dad when I was younger, too."

The large feline's light smile dropped a little. "I…I actually used to play it alone. I played all my games alone."

Po's eyes widened a little - obviously shocked by her words and looked at her with concern. "You mean you never – "

"No," Tigress said quickly, not looking at him. "No, I never had anybody." Tigress suddenly shut her eyes and lowered her brows to her nose. Even in profile, Po could see the evident pain on her face. She then turned onto her left side, away from him – the grass crunching under her movement. Po could no longer see anything of the tiger but the diluted red color of the vest covering her back and the dull shining of the golden vine patterns tracing it.

The panda's ears flattened to the base of his skull, guilt plaguing over him as he looked at the stripped warrior worriedly. "Hey, Tigress, I'm really sorry. I didn't—"

"Don't be, Dragon Warrior. You've done nothing worth apologizing for."

"Yes, I have. You're hurting…I can see it."

A moment of silence dragged on before the female tiger immediately turned back around, lifted herself from the ground into a seated position, and wrapped her large, furry arms around her bent knees. Her focus remained on the grassy ground before diverting to the starry sky above – her mind deep in thought.

"Po…I can trust you, right?"

The black and white warrior was caught off guard by this question, "What do you mean? "

"Let's say if I were to tell you something – something I've never told another person – could I trust you to keep it to yourself?"

Po looked uncertain, but under the heavy influence of her intimidating golden gaze, he eventually nodded seriously.

The words Tigress was searching for rolled around on her tongue – just out of her grasp. But she finally managed to catch a few as she said them carefully and slowly:

"When I was very young and living in the Bao Gu Orphanage, I never had anyone to turn to. All I had were my raggedy toys, my room, and myself. No one visited me in my isolation, but in the rare times when I was acknowledged, it was to either silently mock me for my differences, or whisper about why I shouldn't be played with…" she cleared her throat, keeping her voice steady. "I was lonely and well aware of it. But I never felt lonely with the stars. They were my sole source of entertainment. I remember I used to climb out my window and onto the roof of the orphanage in my pajamas and sit happily under the sky. I made up stories and fantasies out of the images I saw in the stars. No one ever knew anything about my nights spent out on the roof. It was my secret escape to be the little girl I was at the time. Or not. Sometimes I'd act out my adventures – pretending to be an elegant princess or a skilled warrior – always incorporating the starry sky into my imaginings. What was more, no night was ever the same looking; new ideas and characters always came to me. I could imagine anything I wanted and the stars never judged. They supplied, I created."

Po had lifted himself up onto his left elbow and was eyeing the large feline curiously. Listening to her talk made a little smile creep onto his face at the happier parts of her memories.

"They were just like my dolls – not caring that I was an orphan, or that no one wanted to be my friend. I was anything I wanted to be. I could even be just what I was and they never minded." Tigress sighed, shaking her head slightly. "It was only with real people that opinions were formed about me. I couldn't be anything but what theysaw. I was trapped. Only then did I feel lonely – different, not like everybody else…"

She stopped – the feeling of being lost overwhelmed her, followed by the desperate need to be found. Sighing, she reluctantly continued, "I did this until the day I was adopted and a little into my new home at the Jade Palace. But when my new focus became learning Kung Fu and growing into a full master, I eventually gave up the childish act all together."

"What about tonight?" Po asked quietly, his green eyes shining over the tiger master. "Would this count?"

Tigress turned to him, a bit of surprise engraved into her stripped face. He was smiling. He had actually listened to her entire, somber story with open ears. Soon her features softened and she gave him one of her rare smirks.

"Yes, I believe it would."

The panda sat up and placed a gentle, caring hand on her shoulder, causing her turn her glowing, golden orbs in his direction. "You don't have to be alone anymore, you know."

"I know. Trust me, I do. There are just those rare times when I choke on my own self-pity, and then I feel guilty if I accidentally dumped my problems onto someone else. I'm…sorry if I dragged you into something you didn't want to be part of."

"Hey, don't give it a second thought!" Po reassured with a light punch to Tigress' arm. "We all have our moments! Don't beat yourself up!" He paused briefly, letting his voice turn serious, "Oh, and listen…I – uh – I'll always be around to look at the stars with you, if you want me to. Of course, I'd understand if you said no. I mean, I know I can talk a lot and my stomach usually gurgles at unexpected times, but I'd like to think that – "

"Po, I think you may be rambling again," Tigress interrupted as politely as she could, face still calm looking.

"Oh, sorry…" he replied, quickly shutting himself up and removing his hand from her shoulder as he stared at the ground.

Tigress' expression turned uncertain as she reached out and placed her own paw on his black, furry shoulder. Po could feel the warm sensation creeping through to his skin from her pads as he looked at her with surprised, green eyes.

"But in all honesty, thank you, Dragon Warrior. Tonight has been more…fun, than it has in a long time for me. I owe that to you. And for also letting me trust you; you're quite a friend."

Tigress smiled, her eyes slowly intensifying as she removed her warm paw.

It was then that Po yawned, tongue dropping out of his mouth. Tigress gave a small yawn too, but covered her mouth respectively.

"Hmmm…I wonder how long we've been out here," Po asked, looking around his environment with a tired curiosity. "Or even what time it is."

"It's hard to tell when it's this dark out."

Tigress rose to her four paws and pushed forward into a good lunging stretch – loosening her shoulder and back muscles. She then extended her claws, along with did her powerful arms as her rump rose briefly in the air – tail arching backwards into a pleasant curl.

She then gave her pelt one final shake and stood to her two feet, immediately offering a paw to Po when she noticed he was still slumped on the ground lethargically. He accepted it gratefully, rising to his stubby feet.

"But sleep could still do some good, I suspect," Tigress said, giving him a genuine smile. They shared gazes for a moment – orange and green eyes making contact. Hers suddenly turned comical as she placed her paws on her hips.

"Coming back here tomorrow night isn't something you'd want to do, would it?" She looked up briefly at the sky before adding, "That is, if the stars are as beautiful as they were, tonight."

Po could hardly contain himself, proceeding to do his 'happydance' as he sputtered out in one fast sentence, "Whoa, really? That's an awesome idea! There's nothing I'd want to do more than hang out with the coolest, most awesome member of the Furious Five!"

The feline warrior accepted his compliment with a chuckle as she started walking back up the grassy knoll to the student's barracks, the Dragon Warrior eventually following her. A playfully suspicious look came across his face as he heard her laugh – suddenly pointing a finger at her chest, hovering right over her heart.

"Maybe then, I'll get to unlock more of the little cub I knew was inside of you all along!"

She lightly batted away his finger with the same expression – responding, "One miracle at a time, Po."

I hope you enjoyed! Have a great Thanksgiving everyone! 3