Dreamworks owned Kung Fu Panda :-)

The story set right after KFP3. There are some references to my other story, but you don't necessarily need to read them to understand. The story kind of start on chapter 4 and beyond. I do feel this sort of a weak start... but hope you'll continue to read. I am sure you won't be disappointed!

Enjoy!

PROLOGUE

This was a story about a group of warriors, their journey in finding who they were, their greater purpose in life, their role under the ordinances of the universe, and how they would learn to understand, that the important encounters were planned by souls long before their bodies saw each other.

Fate did not care about your plan. And in the name of fate, some people would come in your life, and you would just know - you wouldn't be able to replace them when they left.

Fate took the most unlikely people to meet - brought them together, no matter how far apart they were. Sometimes the road of life took an unexpected turn, and you had no choice but to follow it... just to end up in the place you supposed to be. Fate could be cruel; one would have a choice to become bitter or better. The choice did not belong to fate; it belonged to you. Fate decided who would come into your life, but your heart would decide who stayed.

In this story, our warriors would learn, that everything they needed - would come at the perfect time, and sometimes you had just to wait for it to make its move. Fate would bring two people together, and it was love's job to keep them there.

There was no point of rushing your fate, because the best things... would worth the wait.

"Tigress, what is your problem? Why would you care about my decision anyway?" The panda in front of her snarled stubbornly, unable to keep severe frown from creasing his brow. Of course, she cared, she is your best friend! His own mind quickly scolded him for his outrageous choice of words, but it was too late, his awful narrative was rubbing her emotion the wrong way.

"Do you even know what are you asking there, Panda?" She broke off sharply, with audible gritting of teeth as though biting her words. Her golden eyes just delivered the precise amount of scorn and rebuke; her claws unsheathed, beginning to itch on something to slice. Tigress couldn't keep the hurt from her voice and didn't bother trying. She let bitterness overtook her as their gaze intercepted, wishing the panda in front of her had read through every inarticulate word in her glare.

"Tigress, this is my life, and this is my choice. I just want to spend a little more time with him. Now would you care to tell me what's your problem?" His expression was between deep confusion and exasperation. However, he inched away and prepared his stance, knowing the tiger master might pull her powerful blow at him. Once again, conflicted morass of emotion darted across his face.

"So is that... what you really want?" Her tone was bitter and unforgiving, but not nearly as accusing as it could have been.

He opened his mouth again to drive his point. Nothing came out but empty words. However, it wasn't hard to tell - his eyes was saying his uttermost intentions. He was keen to leave, to leave Jade Palace, to leave her. He was probably not realizing the second as much as the first.

The panda greeted with her crestfallen eyes, which was not just spoken of inscrutable resentment, but also undeniable suffering. Her chest heaving, struggling to hold the emotion that welled within from spilling and tarnishing his hardcore reputation. But instead of firing instant fury, the striped feline seemed to resign to her fate. The fate that her best friend had chosen to leave. Behind her lids, the memory flooded through her mind - a moment of such friendship that she treasured deeply. Tigress closed her eyes to prevent anyone noticing drops of water beginning to form.

'Tigress, you are not weak! Don't let stupid emotions get in the way. Compose yourself for goodness sake.' Her critical mind chided her for being such a despicable loser. She stood dejectedly, in utter embarrassment for allowing her rage overwhelmed her senses. Thankfully within seconds, she managed to pull back that stern expressionless mask and put aside her sentiment over the situation.

"Fine...!" Her answered was short and biting, cold and distant. "...do as you pleased Dragon Warrior." She spat her last words and turned to retreat to the student quarter. Po watched as her back disappeared behind the training hall's door. Suddenly, he realized the gravity of this situation.

Their comrades were watching from the small opening of the Training Hall's door. The panda was still stood there in puzzlement and left speechless at the feline's titanic rage. His harmless request had turned into a serious debacle, possibly even ruining their friendship. His hand was still clutching the spool he received hours ago - the reason why he arrived at this plea. His comrades looked at each other, taking note of the misery, fear and grief etched in the panda's expression. They were wondering whether they should comfort the bear, as for their striped comrades, they were quite certain she wanted to be alone in her usual solitary confinement.

"I'll talk to him." Monkey's voice pitched low and strained. His intention was instantly dismissed by the avian stood next to him. His wings held up curbing his next move. "I think we need to leave him alone. This is between him and Tigress."

Po wasn't asking much. After all, Shifu already agreed that Po could do his duty from the Secret Panda Village as long as he disciplined himself to train regularly and returned to Jade Palace twice a year. After watching Po grew into his role as Dragon Warrior and noticed how much he had matured into taking his responsibility seriously, Shifu would give him the benefit of the doubt for an extra room for freedom. Even Mr. Ping - whom many would think, would be the one having an emotional breakdown, approved almost immediately. It was not as if Po would stay in this arrangement forever.

To everyone's surprise, it was Tigress who objected Po's decision the most. Understandably, she was Po's closest friend. They are both shared an inseparable bond and common understanding deeper than anyone knew.

Suddenly the warning gong from the village sounded.

"Village is under attacked!" Monkey exclaimed.

"Let's go!"

Everyone paced from the Training Hall towards the Thousands Steps. Po saw an orange-black blur made a quick, graceful leap from the side of the palace. His mind kept reciting the argument he had with his best friend a few minutes ago. Probably I haven't been sensitive. I should have asked her opinion before quickly comes to decide to leave Jade Palace. But for now, there were more pressing things at hand.

The Five and Dragon Warrior landed in the village in less than 5 minutes. The cacophony came from Mrs. Chang's jewelry shop. Immediately they diagnosed the source of the problem. A giant croc and his henchmen were just about to leave the establishment as the warriors confronted them.

"Li-Dong, where do you think you are going?" Po stopped the giant Croc right on his path.

"Dragon Warrior, you better move aside, I am not interested in hurting you today." He chuckled menacingly between his jagged teeth.

"We'll see about that." Po taunted back.

"Get ready to feel the thunder!" He gave a signal to the rest of the Five to charge.

Soon, each of the Masters was occupied on their own battle. Tigress was handling four of them at ease. Po was facing Li-Dong, both of them exchanging brutal punches and kicks. Po clearly gained the upper hand of the fight as the giant croc wasn't as agile as he was. However, Po's troubled mind kept distracting him, causing his forms to be poorer than usual, and this had not gone unnoticed. The croc was scheming a plan to catch the panda off-guard. Po wasn't aware that the croc kept two double blades chained to his belt. Li Dong threw one of them and caught the panda by surprise but managed to dodge it with his palm. Disastrously, Po wasn't prepared when the other axes were heading his way. Acknowledging his demise, Po closed his eyes, almost surrendering himself for the calamitous impact of the assault. Tigress was right behind him, and had been observing closely with the tail of her eyes as the croc was closing his distance with the Dragon Warrior. When she grasped the grim situation unfolding, she made a quick backflip and caught the blade with her palm, but the handle of the weapon hit her square on the forehead which rendered her unconscious.

Po opened his eyes just to witness Tigress' figure laid still - her strong arms limped beside her body, her tail laid listlessly on the floor. He heard his comrades shouting her name. Po gave a cue to Crane and Viper to move her safely aside while he dealt with Li-Dong.

"Li-Dong, you gotta pay for what you did." He growled vehemently. Po squinted his eyes preparing for his onslaught, daring himself to do his worst.

"Upsss... I accidentally hurt your kitten, didn't I? It's her fault to stand between you and me!" He taunted back in mocking tone. Po felt his heart rate racked up, his muscles coiled, and his body mobilized itself for delivering a cruel blow. After a few moment of tension, Po finally released his attack.

"Get ready to meet your fate Li-Dong." Po announced angrily, mustering all his concentration and energy. With incredible speed, he approached his adversary and opened his palm. "Double death strikes" and yellow luminance emitted from his paw. Li-Dong welcomed his attack and blocked Po's assault, but the gulf of energy was too powerful for him to intercept. The strike hurled the hulking croc across the clearing, crushing him to a wall and rendering him unconscious. His comrades gawked as the giant croc was overthrown with one single hit. Mantis quickly checked on their opponent's injuries to find him still breathing and quickly pressed his nerve points to paralyze him further.

Meanwhile, all the attention went back to Tigress who still laid unconscious under the tree with Monkey, Viper and Crane by her side.

"Tigress... TIGRESS!" Po exclaimed in desperation. His voice quivered and water started to well on the corner of his jade eyes. He gently pulled the feline into his lap. She appeared peaceful - those conflicting, angered and scornful features she had moments earlier, had left her face as if she had forgotten of their dreadful argument.

"I should've been more careful, you saved me yet again!" Tears cascaded down his cheeks as he stared at her listless form. Viper checked on the feline heart rate and vital sign. "Don't worry, Brother, she just had a shock from the impact. She'll be ok. It just takes time." She responded compassionately, hoping her words would expel the panda's over exceeding worries. Beat it, even Shen's mighty cannon couldn't destroy the hardcore warrior, let alone just a mere bump on the forehead. "I'll check for a concussion when we get back to the palace infirmary," Viper reassured him with a comforting smile. The snake tapped the end of her tail gently over the bear's forearm."I promise Tigress will be fine."

"It's all my fault." The panda said mournfully, regretting his recklessness that had cost his friend's fate."I shouldn't be so selfish and think about leaving you guys and end up had a fight with Tigress."

"C'mon dude, we are always protecting each other, and this kind of thing bound to happen." Mantis injected in some positive vibe. The panda still slouched grievously, cradling the feline in his arms.

"Now, Po, why don't you carry Tigress and I'll make sure she is ok," Viper suggested. With that, all of them headed back to the palace. Po carefully settled the feline on her bedroll, Viper and Mantis went off to get some herbs, while Monkey and Crane left to inform Shifu.

When the red panda arrived at his daughter's chamber, he found the giant panda still crouching on the floor next to Tigress' bedroll, Po empty gaze fixated on the figure laid still in front of him, hugging himself sorrowfully. Shifu heard muffled sob in between almost like repetitive utter of an incoherent word of apology.

"Po..." He placed his skinny hand on his shoulder, grabbing his attention. The monochromatic panda didn't turn his head, instead, burying it in his arms and start to sob violently. Shifu knew Po would not be this torn solely because of Tigress' non-lethal injuries - everyone knew his adoptive daughter was one tough cookie. It's for the fact that Po had a squabble with her, leaving her somewhat dispirited, and yet she still willingly stood for him with her life.

"I know what happened Po, and it's not your fault. You know that Tigress always watches everyone's back, as you watch theirs." He tapped his shoulder lightly. The giant panda struggled to find his composure and turned around to face his diminutive master.

"Master, y-you d-don't understand." He stammered between sniffle, continuing to chastise himself."I had a... heated discussion... with Tigress before heading down to the valley... and I wasn't concentrating during the fight, that's why Tigress..-" He trailed off, but couldn't hold his emotion to continue.

"Po... " Shifu studied the giant panda before him. "Do you care for my daughter?" The bear froze at the end of his tongue, his master knew from the first time he arrived in Jade Palace that he had a star-struck crush on Tigress, probably just an after-effect of Kung Fu fanaticism back then. Appearance wise, it's not difficult to see that those seed of fanboy adoration had grown into something more. Tigress was undoubtedly beautiful and graceful. She might not be the most feminine, but that because she chose to be. As far as Kung Fu was concerned, she was an epitome of a warrior - bold, loyal and smart in equal measure. They soon become acquaintances, comrades, a partner in crime and later on became best friends. Shifu wouldn't be surprised if there were plenty of things Tigress would only reveal to Po, because, underneath her stoic facade and his klutzy tendencies, both of them share some significant similarities, such as the feeling of insecurities and struggle for acceptance.

"She had a right to be angry at me. I just told her I'm leaving without asking her opinion." A mixture of sorrow and remorse colored his raspy voice. Po briefly wiped the watering form on his eyes and deliberately not answering his master's question. But the wise Grand Master decided not to press the bear any further.

"Well, I respect whatever your decision is Po. It's understandable that your father is keen to spend a little bit of time with you after more than twenty years thinking you were dead. Especially after what happened with Kai recently." Shifu stated his reason. His student remained muted, Shifu voted to leave him with his thoughts. "Don't forget to pack - you said you'll be leaving in two days." The old Grand Master stood up and prepared to retreat to his chamber.

"I don't think I can leave Tigress now..." Po finally found his voice. "I-I... am not going Master." He mustered. The red panda stopped at his track and carefully listened what his pupil was going to say.

"I had some explaining to do when she's awake," Po stated firmly, making clear that reconciling with Tigress was his priority.

"Do what you think is best Po. You know Tigress more than I do now." The old panda said executively as he made his exit, leaving the bear alone with his troubled mind. Po calmed himself down and collectively gathered the string of events of what just happened.

Instantly he remembered when Tigress decided to leave Jade Palace to join Master Mugan at Garnet Palace. To say he was upset was truly an understatement. Back then, Tigress wasn't consulting him either about her decision to leave. Deep down, admittedly he missed her terribly, such that he decided to sneak into Garnet Palace to bring her back. Jade Palace felt so empty without her voice in the Training Hall, without her using him as a training dummy, without her sarcastic comment and without her deadpanned expression at his joke. Even though all may sound very negative, the truth was Po wouldn't trade Tigress' existence for the world, she was the most loyal and dependable friend he ever had, most importantly...she completed him.

'Tigress would feel the same if I left.' And with that hanging in his mind, Po slowly drifted to sleep.

Meanwhile, somewhere else. The sun prepared to rise. The fluorescent fiery red glow had changed into bright yellow rays, peeking through the windowsill next to Tigress' bedroll. She stretched herself and yawned with a cute little mewl. Rubbing her eyes and adjusting her vision, suddenly Tigress realized she didn't recognize this place. The last thing she remembered she was fighting a group of croc bandits and something hard had struck straight on her head.

She slowly reached her forehead and surprised to find there was nothing there - no pain, no bump, nothing... as if the fight had never happened. Feeling something amiss, she rubbed her eyes again to readjust her vision and frantically scanned through the room. It smelt like bamboo…. fresh bamboo. The room looked brand new and empty, very few ornamentation hang on the wall, a lone vase with a bunch of wildflowers sat on the book shelf. She tried to stand and soon realized she had one of her foot neatly cast.

'How did I get a broken foot?' She strained to recollect. But then came another surprise, she analyzed all of her orange stripey limbs... they all appeared, smaller and shorter.

'Am I a cub?' She scrutinized her surrounding again, alerting her mind the possibility she might have been kidnaped. And as if heaven played another charade, she discovered she was wearing nothing!

Distraught and confused, she quickly used the blanket as a cover up and secured it on the front. She prowled carefully, approaching the door to investigate the situation further. She saw another small empty room, to which appear to be a sitting room. And then a sudden mouth watering smell invaded her nostril. Almost instinctively, Tigress followed the delectable smell to the kitchen, where she saw a cauldron full of soup, gurgling delicious rhythm almost inviting her to come and eat. Tigress was not sure how long she had been out, must be for days since she was very hungry. But suddenly she had to stop, her sensitive feline's ear captured a faint creak from the door and heavy strides that became louder as the second went by. Tigress prepared her stance.

A female monochromatic creature appeared before her.

"My dear, forgive me... what are you doing in my kitchen, are you hungry?" The panda prompted, still bewildered looking at a tigress cub with perfect fighting stance, wearing nothing but a blanket over her chest down to her ankle.

Instead of answering, Tigress replied with a ferocious growl.

"Uh... you seem to be... a little bit... unfriendly." The stranger pretended to cringe, but her tone was calm.

"My name is Zhibao. You can call me Zhi. I found you by the river nearby our village, wounded and unconscious." She smiled indulgently and narrated the events with a friendly tone. Tigress quickly eased herself once realizing this female panda was none other than her savior.

Tigress placed her fist on her open palm. "Thank you." She bowed respectfully. Then, she was about to introduce herself to her host, but found nothing in her memory.

"So, little one, tell me what happened, where do you live? so we can take you to your parents." The female panda kindly offered.

"I-I... I don't remember." Tigress frowned. There was a sudden stroke of perplexity and worry in her face. "W-where am I?"

"You are in Tenhuan, two miles outside Gongmen. And I think you broke your leg." The panda explained and pointed at Tigress' right leg which now already had been attended neatly. "And why are you wearing a blanket, is there anything you want to conceal behind there?" Zhibao chuckled, finding it amusing a little cub unjustifiable embarrassment over her naked body.

Tigress looked at herself again the second time. 'Flat chest, no hip, shorter tail, and whisker, she is right. I am a cub.' But as much as Tigress knew she was now a cub, acting like one was proven to be harder than it sound.

"Now tell me, what do you remember about yourself."

"I remembered I was an orphan,... used to live in an orphanage. And then someone adopted me... a red panda, I can't remember his name. I grew up and trained as Kung Fu Master. The last thing I remembered was: A group of us were fighting croc bandits, and an object hit me on the head, and everything went black. By the way, why am I not wearing anything?" She asked quizzically.

"Oh, your clothes is still wet... and we have no one around here with your size. All four years old panda had body frame much wider and bigger than you. I'll ask my husband to get you a few pair of clothes on the way home from the city." Zhi replied with a comforting tone.

"You were fighting bandits at the age of four or five?" Zhi made sure she had the fact right, but trying not to sound disrespectful.

"To be honest, I am not sure why I am a cub." The tiger sounded like berating herself. Zhi was not entirely sure what the cub meant, but decided not to persuade her further. She moved closer and gave Tigress a warm hug. "Don't worry. We'll do anything to help you to find your adoptive parents again. Now let's feed that tummy of yours, I can hear it begging for mercy." Zhi ushered the cub to their dining table and served up the delicious smelling soup, a pile of bean buns, and a big plate of sweet dumplings. Tigress didn't wait for further instruction to start massacring the food.

"This soup is amazing," Tigress commented between each gulp, forgetting that she was a firm believer in good table manners.

"It's spicy sour soup, an old time favorite in Gongmen, that one was my own recipe. I can teach you sometime later." The panda gladly accommodated. A smile appeared on the Tigress' muzzle."I would love that, thank you."

Both of them continued eating in silence. Zhi handed Tigress her third serving."Wow, you do have a panda appetite." Zhi teased.

"... m-my apology, Ma'am" Tigress stammered. She mindfully slowed down her chewing pace and her fiery eyes were carefully examining the benevolent panda in front of her. Zhi was wearing a traditional robe, with striped sash widely spread across her waist. The panda had her hair pulled up into a bun, and she owned a distinct mole next to her mouth on her right cheek.

Later on that afternoon, a male panda rushed into the house.

"Zhibao, did you ask a messenger to fetch me? Anything urgent?" He was a much larger panda, flew into through the door in a rush. He was about a foot taller than his female counterpart, wearing a green robe, and a pair of black linen trousers. A large bag with numerous pockets was concealed under one of his furry black arms. But instead of making a graceful entrance, he stumbled on the door frame, causing his large figure to land belly first on the hard wooden floor. The content of his bag scattered in every direction. His wife just tugged a smug smile while offering her paw to help him back on his feet.

'Dramatic entrance.' Tigress mentally cackled, she didn't know where she recited it but the mishap did tickle her memory.

"Don't know how you missed the door that big, Bai." Zhi jested." And how many time did I tell you to always secured the latch of your pack?" The male panda in front of her just rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment and chuckled nervously. Zhi immediately helped him gathering all sort of kind of items spilled on the floor. Bai soon realized there was a pair or orange ocular watching his every move. He pretended to clear his throat, gaining attention from his wife who was still crawling under the dining table collecting his stuff.

"Oh yes, Dear..., I found this little tigress by the river. But she seems to suffer from temporary amnesia" Zhi's attention finally back on track. Her husband responded with an incredulous look. "She said she was an orphan who was abandoned in front of the orphanage, so there was not much chance of finding her relatives, or probably her relatives do not want to be found." The female panda said quietly, not wanting to upset Tigress further. "She remembered a red panda adopted her and trained her to be a Kung Fu Warrior." Zhi continued. Bai gradually made his way over to Tigress and meticulously examined her appearance. Tigress squirmed under such an intense surveillance.

"Bai, stop it. You'll scare her!" Zhi smacked her husband's back abruptly to warn him. Bai flinched. "S-sorry, I just a little... curious."

"I know what are you thinking! You've heard the word Kung Fu, and I can see the spark in your eyes." And Tigress knew Zhi wasn't exaggerating. The house, albeit empty, some of the racks were loaded with Kung Fu memorabilia. The scene was uncannily familiar, but Tigress couldn't recollect where she saw it. Bai was grinning ridiculously at the tiger, but stop at the pursed lips the female panda beside him.

"So the red panda bit…..., does it rang any bell?" Zhi questioned her husband, crossing her arms in front of her chest and drumming her blunt claws impatiently. She was hoping Bai's Kung Fu knowledge would land them some clues.

"...mmmm... red panda...red panda...red panda... aha!" His wife held her breath in anticipation of his next statement.

"No... nothing. I don't know." He said looking dejected as he toyed with his fingertips. Zhi glared fiendishly at her husband, Tigress tried to be polite and put on her expressionless face even though she was laughing so hard inside.

"Well, it's been awhile since we saw tiger around the village, but there are quite a few wandering around in Gongmen. I shall ask around later on today, perhaps Kung Fu Council may know a red panda who adopted a tiger. No harm trying right?" Bai was thinking a way to help Tigress reunited with her family.

"Any name at all? Name of the orphanage?" Bai knotted his brow while he questioned the tiger. Tigress just shook her head haltingly as an answer.

"Well, she might be tired, let's go to rest for now." The male panda concluded."Look Zhi. I have to go back to Gongmen for the night. I'll see you both on the weekend." He planted a gentle kiss on his wife's forehead and headed towards the door.

Tigress breathed sharply from her nose. Wondering what is the meaning of all this...