Raven: hi guys, yeah I watched kung Fu panda 2 and I really wanted to write a fic with baby Po in it! He's just SO CUTE!

And to make it interesting, I thought: who was the most unpredictable kung fu master to care for a little child?

That's right! TIGRESS!

P.S. this is not a TigressXPo fic, honestly I'm not sure what kind of relationship they will build during this story… it's not a coupleish thing but it's not a mother-son thing either… well you decide!

….

Chapter one: Baby Po

Tigress was shocked…

"Po?" Monkey whispered and the one who owned that name lifted his head; his big, greenish blue eyes staring at the furious five and Shifu in confusion, "goo?" he cooed.

A chubby, baby panda a head shorter than Shifu was sitting in front of them on jumbo sized pants that indeed belonged to their large friend…

"Oh my… what happened to Po?" Mantis asked as the five looked at their master; Shifu's ears flattened against his head in confusion and shock as the small ball of fluff played with his toes, cooing and giggling.

"I-I don't know…" he admitted after a moment of silence.

"Po can you understand us? If so, show us that you do"

But the baby didn't reply at Tigress's question, he just looked at a butterfly fluttering by, stretching his arms to touch it but couldn't reach it.

"What do we do?" Crane asked when they all realized that Po did not understand…

Viper slid over to the baby, he gave her a toothless smile and cooed again, stretching out a paw towards the snake; Viper smiled and petted the panda with her tail "He's so cute!"

Shifu straightened his back and cleared his throat, "We must go back to the Jade palace, Monkey, you carry him until we get there" he said and the six warriors along with a baby panda walked towards their home.

"Heh-heh! He is pretty fluffy as a cub" the golden furred monkey grinned as he tickled Po's tummy.

"Aw! I just want to eat him!" Mantis cooed, jumping on the panda's belly and tickled his chubby chin, in return the baby giggled and grabbed the green bug, he yelped in surprise as the baby shoved Mantis halfway in his mouth, "AH! Let me out, let me out!" the sounds of his muffled yells were heard inside Po's mouth, his tiny legs squirming around.

Monkey's eyes widened comically and tried to pull mantis out, Po narrowed his cute, round eyes, keeping his jaw locked around the bug "Let go Po!" Monkey said, not wanting to hurt the baby as he tried to softly pull his friend out of his mouth.

The little panda did not let go, he gurgled slightly and tried to eat Mantis but a large orange paw clasped around the scruff of his neck, picking him up and the little panda came face to face with feline eyes.

"Let go of Mantis Po" Tigress said sternly, looking at him straight in the eye.

The baby's eyes widened as he loosened his hold while the tiger effortlessly pulled Mantis out, "Phew! Thank you Tigress, I thought I was panda chow!" the green bug said and jumped on Monkey's shoulder, "And to think you were the one who wanted to eat him" the primate chuckled while the insect glared.

"And don't do that again!"

Little Po's green hues filled up with tears at being scolded at; he whimpered, his little paws coming up to cover his face and his tiny ears flattening as he hung in Tigress's grasp.

"Aw Tigress! Don't make him cry! He's just a baby!" Viper frowned, Tigress's ears flattened against her skull and placed the baby panda down, a frown of her own etching on her face as Po crawled over and tried to hide behind Crane's thin legs.

"Enough, we will discuss this when we reach the Jade Palace!" Shifu announced and the six masters continued their short trek towards their home; monkey picking him up again.

The six masters sat in a circle in Po's bedroom, the only room that happened to not have dangerous sharp objects or furniture for the baby to play with because the entire room happened to have only a futon in it.

Po had grown some interest for Monkey's tail and decided to play with it by trying to catch it, cooing and giggling while Monkey swished it around.

But the six masters were indeed very disturbed with Po's state.

"Let's recall on what happened before Po turned into his younger self… we were all on a mission to stop a sorceress named Yun who was terrorizing the west border…" Shifu trailed off.

Tigress's eyes widened, "Master, we were left to fight off her summoned earth creatures while Po fought her alone! You think she was responsible for Po's state?" The red panda thought it over and realized she was right.

"Yes, I believe so… she had most likely escaped while we fought the creatures and turned Po into a baby… we need to capture her and get her to turn him back as soon as possible or he might remain that way forever!" Shifu said and got up.

"But why did she turn him into a child and not kill him?" Mantis asked, sitting on Crane's hat so he was a safe distance from Po. "That is a question I can not answer… but we need to set off to find Yun immediately. There is a reason this happened, there are no accidents…" He said after a moment of silence and pointed Oogway's staff he had kept at the female tiger.

"You, Tigress, will stay in the Jade palace and care for Po until we get back."

Tigress's eyes widened at that sentence "But-but master! Why me? I might be useful during the mission; I know nearly nothing of caring for children! Why can't one of the others do it or why not you stay here and care for him while the rest of us look for Yun?" she protested while Shifu shook his head no.

"Yun is a sorceress and requires much experience with magic. I may not be a magician but something like this requires Inner peace and I am the only one besides Po who has mastered the full balance of our Chi. I chose you, because you are the most powerful and very capable of protecting someone alone. I need Viper with me for this mission and the others are even more incapable of caring for a child than you are" the red panda answered.

"I can't argue there, I'm totally useless in the babysitting department" Crane stated while the others nodded, the snake mistress looked unsure "But master Shifu, I know a thing or two about children; I will do it if needed… oh! Po's father, Mr. Ping will be able to take care of him!" Viper said, remembering the nice old goose.

"No Viper, as I said before you are needed in this mission and Po can not leave the Jade Palace; if word gets out that the valley of peace has weakened in strength because the furious five are away and the dragon warrior has turned into an infant, then many of our enemies will chose to attack and try to eliminate Po in his weakest state. This mission will be secret, nobody will know that we have gone, not even the villagers and not even Po's father. Tigress, you will stay in the palace with Po at all times, if any trouble at all hits, your duty is to protect him no matter what." Shifu's words embedded themselves deep into her brain…

How can she care for Po? She doesn't know anything about this type of thing!

How can the hardcore kung Fu master, that can crumble an ironwood tree into sawdust, mother a baby panda?

It was impossible!

Shifu saw the doubt and nervousness play in her amber eyes as they stared at the ground in thought.

He cleared his throat "Monkey, Viper, Mantis and Crane, you four go and pack for our long trip; we leave tomorrow night, I will have a small talk with tigress. Oh and leave Po here."

And with that the four masters got up and left the room without protest.

The little panda stared in confusion as to why the four of them were leaving…

Oh well… he was getting tired of playing with Monkey's tail anyway… so he decided to roll around to have some fun with his toes, oblivious to the serious conversation Shifu and Tigress were having.

"Tigress… I have another reason I chose you." He said and the tiger looked up at him with question, "Another reason?" she repeated in question and the red panda nodded, walking towards the sitting tiger "this is not a simple babysitting mission; in years of being master Oogway's pupil I have not only gained his knowledge of kung fu… but also his wisdom… I know your inner self is restless, it has always been… and part of the reason it is… is because of me…" Shifu looked down, his ears flattening in shame as he looked down while Tigress's eyes widened, "But master, how is it your fault?"

Tigress was interrupted by Shifu once more, "While I raised Tai Lung I gave him my love, I loved him too much… but when I adopted you from that orphanage, I'm afraid I hadn't loved you enough… your heart and soul had already been trampled by the villagers calling you a monster and instead of healing those wounds I had left them open…"

Tigress's ears flattened against her head at those memories as the old red panda looked up at her.

"I didn't give you the love you had needed and in time you tried to harden your heart by training to become the most powerful Kung Fu master… the dragon warrior… I know all of this was to make me proud of you… but when Po showed up and Oogway announced him as the dragon warrior I know it wasn't fair to you, you trained for years and Po only trained for a few weeks until he defeated Tai Lung… but you accepted it with a heavy heart that the panda was the one…

Tigress… I'm sorry… you never really knew a parent's love… my chance to give you love is over… with all the cruelties life has given you I'm surprised that you didn't end up like Tai Lung…

Your heart is pure Tigress… no matter how much you hide it under that hard exterior."

Shifu sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder, making her look up at him, she said nothing but her expression said it all…

Her ears flat and her brows knitted together, her eyes glimmered with sadness…

Little Po got bored of playing with himself and looked over to the two left in the room; he got up and crawled over to them to see if he could find a playmate.

"You need Inner peace Tigress… and I can not give it to you…" the old red panda said, lifting Tigress's chin slightly; the two looked down next to them to see Po tugging on Shifu's robe, cooing; the red panda chuckled and picked up the small black and white panda effortlessly (even if he was almost his size) from under his arms and placed him in Tigress's lap, the panda turned around, belly facing up as he lay down on her lap as she sat cross-legged.

"But maybe he can…"

The tiger mistress looked at Shifu in puzzlement, "But master… how?"

"That is something you will have to realize yourself" Shifu stated and got up, leaving the room without another word.

Tigress's gaze shifted from the closed, sliding paper door to the baby panda curled up in her lap, he stared at her with his big green eyes as he sucked on the fingers of his paw; the tiger master sighed, "How are you supposed to bring me Inner peace? You're just a baby…"

She picked up the little panda under his arms and held him up to get a good look at him; he removed his paw from his mouth and gave her a toothless smile.

Well… Tigress had to admit at least to herself that… Baby Po was a little bit cute…

He cooed and reaching his little arms out to her as if trying to grab her face; little Po found her eyes pretty and shiny when the afternoon sun bathed the room in a soft glow, he wanted to grab them; his slobber covered paw wetting her arm in the process.

Tigress grimaced at him.

…Cute but disgusting…

"I'll never understand the way master Oogway and master Shifu think."

Tigress set the baby panda down and got up, wiping the saliva off of her arm as she walked out of the room, leaving the door open.

Po rolled on his four little paws and followed the tiger mistress.

The tiger reached the kitchen and saw the rest of the five and Shifu at the table, eating some take-out noodles, "Come on Tigress, its dinner time!" Mantis stated and she sat down next to Monkey.

Po saw Tigress turn the corner and his pace quickened a bit when a sweet, delicious smell waft his nostrils, his tummy growled, signaling that he was indeed hungry.

"Tigress, where's Po?" Viper asked worryingly but her question was answered when a cute baby noise was heard at the door, they looked to see Po crawling over to them.

He stopped at the table, his front paws grabbing the table's wooden leg as he sniffed the air, realizing that the smell was coming from the top of the table.

"Aw, he's hungry" Viper cooed and went to pick up the baby but Shifu stopped her, "Wait, let Tigress do it, after all she will be the one to care for him when we leave tomorrow morning"

Tigress looked at Shifu with wide eyes, her amber hues then shifting down to the little panda next to her feet, trying to climb the table's leg.

Po realized he could not get to the food on the table and his tummy was awfully hungry; his eyes started to whelm up with tears, he sat on his soft bottom and started sniffing and whimpering.

Shifu lifted a brow at her when she hesitated while the rest of the five waited to see what would happen.

The baby panda started crying and tried reaching for the food with no avail, "Waahhh!" he wailed and held his paws to his eyes as little tears ran down his chubby cheeks.

Tigress's ears flattened once more at his loud crying and reached down to pick him up; she held him with one arm and grabbed her chopsticks with the other, picking up some noodles and held them in front of Po's mouth.

He little panda's crying ceased into small hiccups and sniffs when he noticed someone pick him up and saw chopsticks holding noodles in front of him, his sad frown turned into a smile as he opened his mouth and ate the noodles given to him, chewing with the little teeth at the back of his mouth and swallowing.

"Well done Tigress" Shifu praised as she continued to feed the chubby ball of fluff.

"I'd never thought I'd live to see Tigress mothering Po" Mantis cackled while monkey joined in the laughter but immediately shut up when Viper hissed at them, following by a glare from Tigress.

"So master Shifu, where do we start searching for Yun?" Crane asked, "We'll start with Gomen city and then travel to all the large cities nearby, she might be anywhere; no doubt that the cities will be fantastic hiding spots for that Black Panther." The red panda replied.

When the bowl was empty and Tigress gave him no more food, Po yawned and smacked his lips slightly in a cute fashion, his tummy satisfied.

"Looks like Po's sleepy, you better get him to bed" Mantis stated while the tiger mistress got up with the baby panda in her arms; he curled up, nuzzling her chest and gave an adorable sigh, closing his eyes.

"Yeah I'm getting tired too, let's all hit the sack" Monkey suggested as the five got up and each walked to their dorms.

Her ears still flat from slight embarrassment; she walked to the door but stopped when Shifu spoke.

"I suggest he sleeps in your room, he's a baby and babies need a lot of attention." The red panda said while Tigress groaned, "yes master"

The tiger walked down the hallway to the barracks and entered her bedroom; everyone else had already entered their own.

The furniture in the room consisted of only one futon, just like Po's room.

She hummed in thought and glanced at the sleeping baby in her arms.

She placed him softly on her bed and walked out of the room, grabbing an empty wooden box that fit little Po and some more blankets and pillows, she made a makeshift bed for the baby and placed it next to the wall on the opposite side of where her bed was.

Making sure the bed was soft enough; she softly picked up the baby again and placed him in the box, he stirred slightly but then fell asleep again as she covered him up to his neck with a blanket.

She sighed and walked over to her bed, laying down on it.

She stared at the box for a while longer until sleep engulfed her.

How can a baby Po bring her Inner peace?

…..

Raven: please review and tell me how it was! The more reviews I get, the faster I update! No lie! :D