Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda/ Simple little fanfiction

A/N: The last chapter of this short! Enjoy!

Again

Chapter 4: Master

...

a monster...

It echoed in her head, playing and playing.

Junjie stepped back, giving her room enough to breathe. He was still panting himself, tiny hands brushing the dirt and mud from his decorated blue and red clothing. The hole he had made crumbled and bubbled. It was nothing short of incredible. The strength this little fox was capable of ...

It reminded Tigress of Shifu.

With a short huff of a laugh he looked up, eyes twinkling in the nefarious moonlight. "Shifu will never understand you, young one. It's because you're not like him. You were born with your power, a kind of power that is innate," He continued, extending his arm to gesture towards the palace. "A kind they fear. Tai Lung knew that better than anyone."

"Tai Lung?" Tigress cringed at the mere mention of the snow leopard's name. "You knew Tai Lung?"

"Of course I did." he replied simply. Like it was obvious.

She couldn't help but make a face. This was all too strange. Why hadn't Master Shifu ever mentioned this fox before? Not that he went around blabbing about Tai Lung all the time (or ever), but at least in whisperings, Tigress was sure she would have heard the name at least once.

Junjie

It didn't ring a bell. Not even a word from Oogway and she didn't know what to think. Just a moment ago, she had been so sure that this stranger had been telling lies. Could this angry little fox have actually been a student of Master Oogway? Had he studied with Master Shifu? Honestly, she didn't want to believe it was possible, the things he was saying were not painting her heroes in a good light, but the claims didn't sound completely unbelievable either

And that's what was frightening her.

What if what this fox was saying was true? How could she truly tell? She had seen her master perform that same combination of moves many times. To Tigress, the move seemed to be the red panda's signature. She'd seen him use it in combat all the time, speed and height giving the small body more weight for a greater impact. Maybe the fox had learned it somewhere else? But then where did all of his animosity come from. It was just so odd, even his form resembled Shifu's.

Could it be a coincidence?

"I know you must be finding it hard to trust me," He said as if he had read her arguing mind. "but believe me when I say that you were very lucky to have crossed paths with me tonight. It seems," The smile on his face loosened into something more gentle. "I've found you just in time."

"Just in time?" What did he mean?

"Hm." The fox adjusted his glasses. "I only wish I could have been there for poor Tai Lung."

?!

Poor? Did she hear him correctly? Poor and Tai Lung were NOT words that she would ever personally use in the same sentence. It made the fur on the back of her neck stand on end. If this Master Junjie had known Tai Lung at all, he would have known that Tai Lung was a villain, right? The horror story mother's told their children... The true monster?

"I- I think you're confused." The sputter did little to hide her suspicion. Junjie didn't seem fazed.

"Confused, my dear child? We are talking about the same Tai Lung, are we not?"

"I'm not sure."

"Child prodigy, mastered all one-thousand scrolls of Kung Fu and nerve attacks,"

Ooookay "Yes."

"Was worked to the bone, drowned in suspicion, driven to madness, "

wait. "Driven to what?"

"Abused, thrown away,"

"I don't- No, wait!"

"Imprisoned, forgotten, hated,"

"No!" She finally shouted, cutting off his chaotic ramblings. He was twisting the story! "He wasn't abused and thrown away, Tai Lung was a monster!"

"Ah ah." Junjie clicked his tongue, twirling a finger and tipping his chin downwards. " I thought you were the a monster?"

"Tai Lung was locked away, but only after he tried to destroy the valley! He hurt people! He almost killed Master Shifu!"

The fox let out a loud laugh at that; a cold bitter bark that had Tigress taking a few steps back. "Is that what he told you? Is that what he told everyone? Made a villain of his own son? Oh! How undeniably Shifu!" The sour giggles continued like a mad string of hiccups. "The boy had been kicked out long before his tirade on the valley, Tigress. It's time you learned the truth."

"Master Oogway said-"

"Master Oogway is as much of a liar and a fraud as that flat-faced, puffy-tailed buffoon." The fox shook his head, pretending to hold back another barrel of giggles. "It was revenge that brought his son to attack the Palace. Tai Lung wouldn't fall in line with Oogway's agenda. He became too powerful. They took away all of his accomplishments and left him with nothing but humiliation."

Tigress was going to be sick. She just couldn't bring herself to believe this... No! She knew for sure that wasn't true. Not that. Not Tai Lung.
More than just a few palace workers had confirmed it to her long ago: Shifu lived for being a father. He took pride in his son's accomplishments. He spent every day with him. He loved Tai Lung.

It was the reason he didn't love her

A wash of sadness came over her like a dark heavy wave. She folded her arms around herself, shaking her head and closing her eyes. A few feet away, Junjie took this as a sign of acceptance. He held out his hand.

"I understand what you're feeling, Tigress." He whispered, suddenly very sincere. "I understand you. I know I can work with you." His fingers twitched. "Come with me. "

What?

"Come with me. Join me, Tigress. My students have never feared the word Monster." Junjie grinned, arms waving about to emphasize his speech. "You'll be unstoppable. Oh! The things I can teach you!"

"But I- I could never... But the jade palace-" The tiger clutched the front of her shirt, breathing heavily. Go with him? She barely knew him! And what about her friends?

"The Jade Palace fears power, Tigress! They always have! First ME, then Tai Lung, now you- "

"It's my home."

"Home?" Junji laughed again. "A home that wants to lock you away? A home that wants to keep you from achieving your ultimate potential?" He smirked watching the tiger's shoulders sink. "A home that believes you are a monst- "

"I think I've heard enough."

Tigress gasped.

The voice came from behind her back, gruff, aged, and intense. This voice, Tigress knew well. She whipped around, dirt flying from her clothes.

"Master Shifu!"

Undoubtedly, even half hidden by the shadows of midnight. The red panda was ten feet behind her back, standing rigid and still as stone. He looked tired, but his fiery eyes glared with enough hatred to kill, aimed directly at a certain nervous fidgeting fox.

"The tales you've spun have been remarkably detailed, Junjie," Shifu spat. Tigress nervously side-stepped. Her master's eyes flickered to her, taking in her muddy appearance. Those eyes, Tigress thought, she'd never seen her master like this before. Disheveled and soaked from the rain, he looked... unhinged. "If you leave now, I may spare you the displeasure of knowing just how much I've loved hearing your stories."

"Gracious as always." Junjie countered under his breathe. "What a pleasure to see you again, Shifu." His tone was just as spiteful, hate dripping like venom from his mouth. The tiger had peeked over her shoulder at him. His little foot had dragged back, she noticed, spread defensively waiting for his opponent to act on his threats. By the looks of things, that could be any second. "Would you really pick a fight now? With your darling student here to witness every word?"

Her master seemed to ponder this, fists clenching and unclenching.

"Go home, Tigress" He spoke after a moment of silence.

Yes, go home. Yes, leave. Do what he says, Tigress. Forget about Junjie and the things he said. Go now

Hm...

All great ideas, but then what about Junjie? What would her master do to him? The fox had said some pretty wild things, but he hadn't hurt her. If anything, he had comforted her in a weird way. Perhaps she should speak for him? Try to lighten the mood: "Master, we were just -"

"Go home, Tigress." He demanded again, this time turning his steely gaze on her, eyes daring her defy him again. The student opened and closed her mouth, looking from her master to Junjie and then to the ground. Her foot took a step back, preparing to turn and head home when:

"No!" Junjie cried out, making her whip back around to face him. He had shot his hand out, reaching dramatically towards the young tiger. "Don't leave, Tigress! That's what he wants! He's going to lock you away for this!"

Shifu stepped forward out of the shadows. His white eyebrows shot up at the accusation. "What? Ridiculous! Tigress, I said Go. Home."

Tigress remained frozen to the spot, staring at Junjie's desperate face. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife and no one moved, no one breathed except for Junjie's eventual snort and snicker.

"Ahaha! You see, Shifu? You won't be ordering her around anymore." The fox took careful steps forward, leaving about five feet between himself and Shifu. "She's through with the Jade Palace. She's coming with me."

The tiger had no time to interject. Now a fluffy ball of burning rage, the red panda burst forward, slamming into Junjie hard enough to send the fox barreling into the trunk of a tree. Tigress had to hurriedly leap out of his way, having to dodge the small animal as he flew by.

"ARGGH!" Junjie painfully dropped to the ground, glasses flying off and eyes darting between the master and the student. Tigress didn't know what to do. These two had a history she didn't fully understand and she'd only heard one half of that story. To get into the middle of something like this would be a mistake, but then again she couldn't exactly ignore the fox's cries.

"TigrRAHH!" Tigress had to physically hold herself back from jumping in to help as his cry was cut off by Shifu grabbing him by the collar of his fine clothes. With a vicious show of strength, he threw his opponent into the air, leaping up himself. In one fluid motion, he swung his foot down towards the earth, missing Junjie's body by inches.

"AH! H-He'll make you disappear, Tigress!" He dodged another one of Shifu's kicks. "He'll imprison you!" And another. "He'll make sure everyone believes you are a monster!" The word monster was emphasized by a swing of his own that managed to connect with Shifu's side. Tigress gasped as her master stumbled, losing his balance and taking another kick to the stomach. It was unusual to see her teacher so distracted. Junjie must've been knowingly getting under his skin.

Well, it was working

"He locked away his own son!" The fox shouted. Shifu caught his dark orange wrist and swung it behind his back. "What makes you think he wouldn't lock away you?"

Her master kicked Junjie's feet from beneath him and pinned the fox to the ground. "Tigress is not Tai Lung." He growled, pushing down on the fox's arm further.

The ex-student only laughed.

"Please! She heard you say it yourself!" Face half smothered by dirt, Junjie still managed to sound haughty and sure. "You only say that now because you're afraid of what she can do"

"I am not afraid of my students!"

"Oh really?" Standing ten feet from the quarreling mess, Tigress could still see the glimmer of metal shining in the fox's free hand. "Could've fooled me."

"NO!"

The world itself fell into slow-motion as Junjie brought the knife out. Trees, bugs, rain, even her heartbeat thundered at a much slower speed. Tigress needed to stop this! It didn't matter who was right! Her loyalties were set. Her master came to her aid all those years ago, he helped her, he took her in, he trained her, and now he fought to keep her. Maybe he would lock her way for this... Maybe she would grow to be the monster he feared, but right now he needed her

And she had a debt.

The world swung back into real time and, with a roar loud enough to strike terror in the hearts of the dead, Tigress leapt forward pushing Shifu to the side and snagging Junjie by the arm. They rolled into the trees, nearly slipping into a crick just beyond the foliage.

"Tigress!" She hears the fox hiss from beneath her. She quickly snatched the knife from his hand and crawled off him, nervously scrambling back into the clearing before the fox could make a move.

Beside her, Shifu stood stern. All the red panda had to do was hold out his hand and the tiger instantly set the knife into his grasp.

She had chosen.

It was two against one,

and Junjie was no fool.

"Yes, Fine. Fine." He threw up his hands, clothes now as filthy as theirs. He bent to retrieve his glasses from the ground, still holding a hand up in surrender as he got to his feet. "I see where your loyalties lie for now, Tiger. You'll see in time. Don't say I didn't warn you." He turned his back and craned his neck to give Shifu one final look of disgust before pressing on. Surprisingly, her master did nothing to stop the fox from leaving. He only stared, back straight and chin up as the fine blue and red fabric disappeared into the trees.

It was over. They had won.

Seconds turned to minutes that passed between them. Finally, when they were sure the villain was gone for good, they both breathed a sigh of relief.

'Apologize to him' Tigress thought. 'this is the perfect chance!'

But Master Shifu beat her to it. "Tigress, about earlier,"

His head turned to look up at her. The fierce hatred that she had just seen in his eyes was now completely gone, like it had never been there in the first place. Those gentle, calm eyes that were the first thing Tigress had ever noticed about him, were back. She remembered... The day Shifu had stepped foot into the orphanage. No one before him had ever looked at her like that. Years later, after everything, it's funny how she can be brought back to a single moment.

"I only meant that I feared... I would fail to continue to show you how to harness your strength." He continued "I feared that I would fail you and train you to have less control than what you are capable of." He looked away then, ears flattening. "It was completely an insecurity of self. I would never call you a monster, Tigress. You are not and never have been a monster and certainly never will be. I did not mean to compare you to Tai Lung's rage, only his strength."

Tigress opened her mouth to reply, but Shifu held up a finger.

"And... I'm sorry," He rushed out, but then added " for the misunderstanding."

For the misunderstanding? It took Tigress a moment to process it. He'd said sorry for the misunderstanding... So, not completely sorry then?

Hm! She shook her head and smiled. Well, it's a start anyway.

And speaking of apologies,

"I'm sorry too." She wrapped her arms around herself, looking out to where Junjie had disappeared. "I would never leave the Jade Palace, for Junjie or anyone else." Ever. "I would never betray you, master."

There was more silence after those words. It worried her and Tigress quickly turned back to look at him. Her guardian's head was tipped down, a gentle smile on his face

"Come." He said. "Let us go home."

...

End.