A/N: Hi guys! Sorry, it's been a while hasn't it? Well, so much has happened the last few days... there was prom... and graduation... and... well, now I'm back! And from now on I will start updating everything again. :)

Ai Long jumped high into the air. She then stretched out her leg horizontally, then slashed her foot downwards as she used her own weight to pull herself down. Her foot hit the mark that had been painted on the ground by Master Oogway.

"Well done, Ai Long," Oogway said. "You have almost mastered the Vertical Heaven Kick – all there is to work with now is perfecting it… Quite remarkable."

"Thanks, Master," Ai Long said calmly. The technique she was learning was one for Leopard Kung Fu – her style – and it was an advanced type of drop kick, which had hurt her foot somewhat on several occasions that day – it was pretty sore after the many hours of training.

The first part of the lesson had consisted of learning the position, which she would put her leg in; the second had consisted of becoming better at jumping high into the air. But now all that it needed was to practice both at the same time!

Suddenly Tian approached the two. The little goose gracefully landed beside Master Oogway, then whispered something to him. Ai Long just tilted her head slightly. It wasn't really because she was curious… Okay, maybe a little, she was… But it mainly because she was surprised by the fact that the old tortoise still kept certain things from her and the others.

Oh well, she thought. It probably wasn't any of her business anyway.

"Ai Long, please come with Tian," Master Oogway said in a serious tone of voice. Ai Long didn't know what it was about, but as she left she saw Oogway put on a faint smile, although that could have easily been but a mere mirage.

When Ai Long entered the Sacred Hall of Warriors alongside Tian, she was surprised at who she found.

"Mei Jiang!" Ai Long squealed surprised. Before long she had caught her younger sister in a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Dad told me to come find you," the younger leopardess replied.

"But, wait, did you come here all on your own?"

Mei Jiang nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Why didn't Zaofan or Bao come with you?" Ai Long asked confused.

"Well, they're busy right now, of course," Mei Jiang chuckled. Ai Long tilted her head in confusion. "It's Shui – he's getting married to Hua Fen!"

"R-Really?" Ai Long asked surprised. Shui was the oldest brother amongst Ai Long and her siblings. He was the one whose place Ai Long had taken at Jade Palace because of Hua Fen.

Fen's parents hadn't liked the idea of their daughter marrying Shui. Shui was mainly working as a local hero; he was very skilled with Kung Fu and he mainly used his skills to protect the village. The only other work he had (Which actually paid) was helping out in the nearby rice fields of Nian Hua.

Nian Hua was a fairly large village near the Valley of Peace.

"Yeah, the entire village is coming to see the wedding," Mei Jiang said. It wasn't a surprise to Ai Long – weddings rarely happened in Nian Hua and each and every one of them were public events. Besides, Shui was Nian Hua's local hero – of course people would come to show him their appreciation.

"The wedding is being prepared as we speak!" Mei Jiang said excitedly, the thirteen years old leopardess having her hands in the air in an excited manner. "You need to come too!"

"Of course I will," Ai Long said with a smile. "But I don't know if I can just leave."

"I spoke to Oogway about it," Tian told Ai Long, smiling. "He said that you were free to go as soon as you were ready.

"Have a safe trip," Shifu said the next day. "We hope you make it there safely."

"Of course," Ai Long said with a smile. She then nodded towards Mei Jiang. "The Kung Fu runs in our family!"

"And say hello to your family from us," Fenghuang added.

"Sure thing, Fenghy," Ai Long said, the nickname only causing Fenghuang's smile to become a bit more dull.

"Fenghy?" Mei Jiang asked as they left, trying to keep from laughing.

"That's a nickname I made for her," Ai Long chuckled, realizing that her sister found it funny. The two continued down the staircase towards the village and Ai Long took the time to ask, "How are mom and dad?"

"Fine, just as usual," Mei Jiang replied smiling. "Dad is still managing the store and mom is just… well, excited about her first-born getting married."

Ai Long just chuckled at this; of course their mother would become overjoyed whenever any of her children accomplished anything special – and seeing as this was the first child of hers that would get married, she was probably even smiling in her sleep.

"And the others?" Ai Long asked. "Our brothers and sisters… How are they?"

"Well, they're fine, I guess," Mei Jiang said, scratching the back of her head. She sighed. "But…"

"But what?" Ai Long asked immediately worried about whatever it could be that her sister was talking about.

"Well, Zaofan… He… well, I guess you could say he left."

"He left? Why?" Ai Long asked worriedly. Zaofan was the younger son in the family, who was two years younger than Ai Long, who was sixteen.

"No one knows," Mei Jiang sighed. "But… you know Zaofan."

"Yeah…" Ai Long thought about it. Even though she hadn't seen her family for quite a while, she did remember. Zaofan was the type who always felt like he had something to prove – not just to people around himself, but also to himself, seemingly.

"But… he just left?" Ai Long asked. "Had he been acting strange or did he just spontaneously leave like that?"

"I don't really know… I guess," Mei Jiang admitted with a shrug. The two were already walking through the village, having gotten down from the staircase rather fast.

"Hmm…" Ai Long didn't quite know what to say. She knew her younger brother could sometimes be difficult, so this was nothing unusual… although this situation was a bit unusual in itself – he had never 'left' before… at least not while Ai Long had lived at home. "So… how have you traveled here? By foot?"

"No, no, of course not," Mei Jiang replied. But then she added, "Well, partially anyway – I did travel with carriages some of the way – dad gave me some money."

"Why are you heading that way?" Mei Jiang asked her older sister as the two turned around a corner.

"I'm just doing to check and see if we can get easier to Nian Hua," Ai Long said. Mei Jiang didn't know what to expect and simply followed her sister through the village.

Seeing as her sister headed for what was seemingly some kind of post office, Mei Jiang couldn't help but tilt her head slightly in question. But without questioning, she simply trusted her sister and followed her into the store.

"Mr. Shan?" Ai Long asked upon entering. The store owner seemed to recognize her.

"Ah, Ai Long, what can I do for you?" Mr. Shan asked.

"Well, I was just wondering if you have anything that's supposed to be delivered to Nian Hua," Ai Long said, smiling at the old rabbit.

Mr. Shan then pulled up a scroll of some sort, then looked at it. As he was reading through it, the two young leopardesses waited patiently for Mr. Shan. Eventually, having read through the list, Mr. Shan turned to the two girls.

"Oh yes, I have a few wares that are supposed to be brought to Nian Hua," Mr. Shan told the two. "But I have just received them, so it will have to wait until tomorrow."

"Oh… okay, thanks! We'll just wait till tomorrow then," Ai Long said with a smile. She turned to her sister. "That means I can show you the village! Come on!"

Before Mei Jiang could even react, Ai Long grabbed her by her wrist and dragged her along.

The two leopardesses finally arrived. It had been quite a journey – it took about two days to get to Nian Hua! But the two sisters were finally there. On the way they had been accompanied by a big, strong-looking boar from Mr. Shan's shop.

Sure enough, he was strong – he had pulled a big carriage with a lot of different wares – but he hadn't been much help when the three had faced some bandits on the way. In fact, he was what Mei Jiang referred to as a coward.

"Thanks for the lift, Hong," Ai Long told the boar as the two leopardesses got off of the carriage.

"No problem," Hong replied and started dragging the carriage again, leaving the village, since he had more packaged to deliver. Before long, Ai Long and Mei Jiang made their way down the streets of Nian Hua, several people recognizing 'Ai Long Endian'. Most of them knew her from before she joined the Furious Five, but some only knew who she was because of this.

"So when will all this start?" Ai Long asked Mei Jiang as they walked towards their family's house.

"If I recall correctly, the astrologer will come today," Mei Jiang said, rubbing her chin. Ai Long nodded. She knew how a wedding worked, having heard about it from one of her friends.

The astrologer was some sort of… well, astrologer, who was supposed to see whether or not the two were compatible. Ai Long hadn't witnessed that before, so she looked forwards to it.

"Hopefully we're not late," Mei Jiang added. Finally Ai Long spotted her old home up ahead. She felt a strange tickling in her stomach, but in a good way – she was home again!

"Ah… looks just like the last time I saw it," she said happily as she came closer alongside her sister.

"What, did you expect us to spontaneously paint the house?" Mei Jiang asked jokingly. Ai Long just chuckled at her sister's comment and the two entered the house.

The house, on the inside, looked fairly neat and tidy – a family much richer than Ai Long's easily could have lived in the house. Hearing voices from the living room the two sisters entered.

"… and by this I can conclude that these two are not compatible," Ai Long almost tripped over her own feet upon hearing this.

"What?!" The sudden outburst made everyone turn around to face her. Her family seemed surprised, even more when they saw her. Quickly scanning the room, she saw Shui, Hua Fen and the two's families.

But what surprised Ai Long the most was the so-called Astrologer. Upon casting one look at him, she saw a reptilian, covered in scales that were different shades of brown all over – Meng.

"You?" Ai Long asked surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Ai Long, please calm down," her father told her rather strictly.

"Dad, he's not an astrologer – he's just a creep, who…" But before Ai Long could finish, Meng zipped away, out of the nearest window. Ai Long was just about to follow, but was grabbed by the hand by her father.

"Not so fast, young lady," Mingzhi told his daughter. The middle-aged leopard had a very strict expression on his face.

"But dad…"

"Please, Ai Long, explain yourself," Mingzhi said strictly. Ai Long looked around the room at her mother, her siblings, Hua Fen and Hua Fen's family. She then looked back at her father.

"Dad, can't this wait?" Ai Long pleaded. Her father just kept up his strict face. "Alright fine, but not here…"

"Ai Long…" But before Mingzhi could continue, it knocked on the door. Mei Jiang hurried over to open, not wanting to get too involved.

"Dad the astrologer is here," Mei Jiang said upon returning to her family. Following her was a rabbit. He was seemingly fairly old and he wore some dark purple robes with black trims.

Ai Long suspiciously looked at him, but eventually decided with herself that he looked okay. However, suddenly her father grabbed her by her arm and led her outside. Seemingly he was a little confused as to what was going on.

"Now, explain yourself young lady," Mingzhi told his daughter.

"Okay, that fake astrologer before – the guy who jumped out of the window," Ai Long added to make her point clear. "I've met him before – all he really ever wants is to make people's lives miserable; that's why he said that Shui and Hua Fen weren't compatible."

"I see… In that case, good thing you showed up," Mingzhi said, eventually having changed his mind and view on the whole situation. At first he had simply thought that his daughter was simply being rude, but now it turned out that all she did was help her brother.

"But this guy seems okay," Ai long said, referring to the actual astrologer. "I've never seen him before."

"Alright, then come," Mingzhi told his daughter and headed for the living room.

"Ai Long, it's been so long!" Bao told her younger sister. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

"Haha, you too," Ai Long said with a smile. Since her older sisters Chen and Bao had both moved out, she hadn't seen them very much. "How have you been?"

"I have been fine," Chen told her younger sister. "Not much has happened here lately."

"Yeah, the question is: How have you been?" Bao said with a smile. Ai Long had always looked up to her older sisters because they were so beautiful, yet kind… and so had Mei Jiang.

"I've been doing great," Ai Long replied with a smile. "Living at the Jade Palace is amazing."

"The training is not too hard?" Bao asked with a smile.

"A little challenging, but nothing I can't handle," Ai Long said with a smile. "Before you know it, I'll be a Master!"

"Sounds great, sis," Chen chuckled. "I'm looking forwards to hearing people talk about you… well, more than they already do."

"People talk about me?" Ai Long asked surprised.

"I told you!" Mei Jiang chuckled. Ai Long just shrugged.

"Hehe, at least the two were compatible, after all," Ai Long said with a smile, referring to Shui and Hua Fen.

"Yeah, because we totally hadn't planned the entire wedding already," Bao chuckled. "I'm really looking forwards to it."

"Me too," Ai Long said. "So now we're going to plan their wedding, right?"

"Actually we already did," Bao said, putting her hand on Chen's shoulder, letting off a jolly giggle.

"You did?" Mei Jiang asked surprised. "Why didn't you let me help?"

"You're too young," Bao teased, although Ai Long could clearly tell that she was somewhat serious. "But you can feel free to plan Ai Long's when that one comes."

"Haha, sure," Ai Long said, blushing slightly, scratching the back of her head. She then muttered to herself, "If that'll ever happen."

"So… when is the wedding?" Mei Jiang asked.

"That's up to mom and dad," Chen said. She put her hands behind her back. "And knowing dad, it'll most likely be tomorrow."

Ai Long sat on the front porch of the Endian-house. She was trying to figure out what to do. She had clearly seen Meng earlier – of course – but Ai Long didn't know what to do.

She knew her family was eager to hear about her experiences with the others at Jade Palace, but she felt like she'd better go look for the guy. After all, who knew what kinds of trouble the lizard was up to?

But eventually Ai Long decided to do so. She walked through the village, looking for the troublemaker. She met a lot of people along the way – people she knew – such as childhood-friends and even a few family members.

By afternoon, Ai Long still hadn't managed to find the little troublemaker, which was… well, troubling, for lack of better term.

As much as she wanted to continue her search, Ai Long soon found herself at a dinner table along with the rest of her family… except her younger brother, Zaofan.

"So tell us a little about your training," Ai Long's mother, Aiyun, told her second-youngest daughter in a soft tone.

"Well, at first we had a bad start, I guess," Ai long explained, briefly scratching the back of her head. "There was quite some drama between some of the guys."

"You train alongside boys?" Mingzhi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"So what if she does?" Shui asked smugly. "I would have if I had gone, plus, I would have trained with girls too."

Mei Jiang giggled at her oldest brother's remark and Ai Long tried not to.

"Watch your tongue, boy," Mingzhi warned his son, but all Shui did was simply to smile smugly.

"Where's Zaofan?" Ai Long suddenly asked, immediately casting silence over the dinner table. Aiyun and Mingzhi looked at each other without speaking for a moment.

"He's… not home," Mingzhi replied, stating the obvious.

"Yes, but where is…?" Ai Long stopped when Mei Jiang softly kicked her leg beneath the table. Looking over at her younger sister, Ai Long heard her whisper that she would tell her later. Ai Long did know that Zaofan was gone, obviously, but she didn't know where and why.

Eventually Ai Long told some more about her life at the palace and some things about her fellow students and what they had all been through. She even told them how she had become more confident in her fighting during one of the first days.

But soon Ai Long and Mei Jiang managed to 'escape' the living room once the Endian family was done eating. Ai Long turned towards her sister, "Okay, fill me in."

"Well, Zaofan left because he and dad… well, they had kind of a fight," Mei Jiang said. "It started as a discussion – you know the kind that Zaofan usually starts… But then it ended up as a fight."

Ai Long kept quiet for a moment. Something about this didn't feel right… at all. "I have to find him… I have a bad feeling about him missing."