Hello everyone. I'm here today with my first actual story; this one is inspired by a mistake I made a while back that I will never let myself live down.

Hope you like this first chapter, I will get more out as soon as I can.

Disclaimer: I do not own KFP

Chapter 1: Revelation

The day was clear, the sun wrapped the Valley of Peace in warmth, and birds chirped and sang, oblivious to the world below them as they soared through the open sky. The doors of the Jade Palace swung shut behind six masters as they began to descend the Thousand Steps. All of the masters barked in laughter and conversation, reflecting the hospitality of the weather that surrounded them. All of the masters, that is, except for the tiger.

Tigress was deep in thought, hanging slightly behind the rest, going over the events of their previous assignment in Gongmen City, from which they had returned a few days ago. She was also contemplating what to do with a week's worth of free time given to her and the rest of the masters by Master Shifu; she had wanted to train, of course, but the red panda made it clear that they were to take a break. After much debate, the group had decided to spend their vacation at a peaceful hot spring outside the Valley.

A small bird swooped by, coming daringly close to the tiger's face, snapping her out of her thoughts. She stood still for a moment, blinking, before remembering what she was doing, and proceeded down the steps to the village alongside the rest of the masters of the Jade Palace. She glanced around at her fellow masters; Po stood at the front and center of the group, with Monkey and Crane flanking him on either side. Mantis sat on the panda's shoulder, while Viper hung back behind Crane. The monotony of descending the many steps lulled her back into a trance.

"…oh yeah? Let's see what Tigress has to say!"

She perked up at the mention of her name, meeting the eyes of the panda in front of her. Po continued as soon as their eyes made contact.

"Monkey here doesn't think I can bench as much as you," the panda smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"He's probably right." Tigress smirked back as the panda scoffed.

"Oh, please, with these-" He was about to flex his arm muscles when he tripped forwards and tumbled down a few steps, landing on his face with an "Oof!"

The group passed him by, smirking and shaking their heads. Viper slid in front of him as he got back to his feet and brushed himself off.

"Is this how you always act around girls?" Viper teased him and giggled.

"What? Pfft, no…" he rolled his eyes before they landed on Tigress'; he blushed a little and smiled awkwardly. He knew what she was talking about, and immediately looked for an out.

"Oh, hey, Crane…!" He pretended to have something urgent to say as he ran down after the avian and the rest of the males, while the two females hung behind. Viper looked up to the tiger with a sly smile on her face and winked.

Tigress just blinked. Unlike Po, she had no idea what Viper was talking about. Her face scrunched a bit as she tried to decipher the hidden meaning she was obviously missing. Act around girls? What's she getting at? Po has been around girls plenty, I don't get it…

At first, Viper took the face Tigress was giving her as mere annoyance with the meaning behind her words, but deadpanned when she realized it was instead a look of befuddlement.

"Tigress, isn't it obvious?" the snake said in a hushed tone, making sure the others didn't hear her.

"What? What are you-"

"Po always acts differently around you," she giggled, partially at the prospect of Po having feelings for the tiger and partially at said tiger's confusion. "I think he likes you!"

"Of course he likes me, he's been trying to get my autograph ever since he came-" she stopped just as they were reaching the bottom of the stairs, realizing what the snake was saying. Anger began to well up inside her as she clenched her fists; Viper took this as her cue to leave, but not without a giggle and another wink.

Tigress let out a low growl, peering into the village from the bottom of the steps as Viper caught up to the group. She saw Po giving his father a quick hug.

Then she felt different.

Something about that hug made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. Perhaps it was the fact that she now knew what being hugged felt like. Before Po had embraced her in the harbor, she had never known anything more intrusive, more suffocating, or more…comforting, than the feeling of his arms around her body.

By then, Po had noticed her staring at him and met her eyes. He beckoned to her, mouthing the words 'come on' before turning back towards the group and continuing out of the village, now with a travel pack he had received from the goose.

Her legs moved her forward, though she wasn't consciously aware of it. She was too focused on the memory of the hug. When it had happened, she felt a sort of spark beneath her heart, like the walls built around it had been penetrated. She didn't know if this was due to the hug itself or the panda hugging her; either way, it was a sign of affection and she couldn't deny that. Viper was right, the panda was definitely a different person around her, but up until now she hadn't really thought of why; nor had she thought of how he made her feel.

She briefly pondered the thought. The warm feeling in her stomach was back, even stronger now. But it was soon replaced by a shudder. What the hell am I thinking about?

She shook the thought out of her head, forced herself back to her previous thoughts, and picked up her pace to catch up with the rest of the group, though the odd feeling she had just experienced never truly faded.

The group stopped for lunch just as the sun reached the top of the sky. Po began to prepare noodles with the supplies from his pack, cracking jokes and being irritating as usual. Tigress had given up trying to meditate a while ago and instead sat with the rest of the group waiting for the food to be ready.

"Guys, check out this one…" The panda set down the ladle he was holding and turned to the group. He hunched over and rubbed his hands together with an evil cackle. "Hah-hah-hahh! I am Lord Shen and I will destroy Kung Fu!"

His comically exaggerated imitation of Shen's voice had the group howling in laughter before they went silent; a strange new sound fell upon their ears.

Tigress was giggling, bordering on laughing as she sat at the back of the group. No one had ever heard her so much as snicker before. The rest of the group exchanged glances of bewilderment. She stopped as soon as she noticed everyone else was silent, regaining her composure and looking up at them through wide eyes.

"…that was…funny." She sat up straight and cleared her throat nervously.

"That…was…AWESOME!" Po spun around in a jig resembling a victory dance. "I got Master Tigress to laugh! Woooooo! There is nothing the Dragon Warrior can't do! Just like that one time…"

The masters turned their attention back to Po as he continued to prepare the food, already onto another topic. At first Tigress was annoyed, but her grimace soon melted away and a smile snuck onto her face. By now she found his behavior more endearing than anything. She thought back to all the times he had pissed her off or done something stupid, suddenly seeing the memories in a new light and chuckling inwardly.

"Alright, here it is! Lunch is served." The panda beckoned each master up to the pot that sat over the fire, dishing up the noodles he had just prepared. One by one, he filled each of their bowls to the brim with his father's Secret Ingredient Soup.

Tigress went up last, thanking him as he began to fill her bowl. Their eyes connected, and he nodded. But their eyes didn't break contact. She gazed thoughtfully back into his eyes, and noticed that he was looking at her curiously. Normally she would have looked away by now, but something about the look he was giving her kept her eyes glued to his. A small smile began to creep across his face as he continued to pour soup into her bowl without looking.

She didn't know what to say or what to do; all she could do was look back at him, seemingly unable to break away. That is, until she felt a burning sensation on her paws.

She shot her glance down to the source of the pain and saw that her bowl was overflowing with soup as Po continued to pour, the hot broth spilling over the brim and onto her paws. She instinctively let go of the bowl, letting it fall to the ground and explode into tiny shards, the soup going everywhere. She waved her hands around in an attempt to shake the burning liquid off.

"Ahh! Ohmygosh, I'm soo sorry!" Po freaked out, dropping the ladle back into the pot and grabbing her hands in his. "Are you okay?" His distressed eyes fell from hers to the paws he was holding, inspecting the damage.

"Po, it's fine, only a little got on my hands. I can barely feel it," she explained, pulling her paws back and inspecting them herself.

"Are you sure…?" Po was still not convinced. It was obvious he was worried for her, but she wasn't sure how to respond to such worry; not even her adoptive father had shown so much concern for her safety, especially over something so trivial.

"Yes. Just try to be less of an idiot next time," she scolded; the panda looked somewhat hurt by her words until her lips curled up into a smirk, assuring him that she wasn't angry.

He spun around and fetched a new bowl, filling it much more carefully this time before handing it to the tiger and scratching the back of his head. She took it, smiling and shaking her head as she found a seat next to the rest of the masters who were all sitting in a circle out in the field beside the road. Po quickly cleaned up the mess the bowl had made before dishing up his own lunch and joining them.

Monkey was busy telling a story of the trouble his brother and him used to get into as the group ate, but Tigress wasn't listening. She rubbed her thumbs over the spots where the burning hot broth had landed, not feeling a thing.

Yet it wasn't because of her training or her discipline that she couldn't feel the pain. When the liquid had first made contact, it hurt like hell; she wouldn't have dropped the bowl otherwise. But as soon as he had taken her paws in his, the pain was…gone.

She had felt safe, secure, much like she had while he held her hand as she lay adrift in the harbor, and later when he hugged her. The fuzzy feeling was back, this time in her paws, where they had made contact with his.

She wasn't quite sure how all of this made her feel; all she knew was that she couldn't ignore it any longer.

Thanks for reading, and like I said, chapter 2 will be out shortly. See you then!