Elegant, Graceful, and Clumsy Chapter 1, a kung fu panda fanfic

Elegant, Graceful, and Clumsy

Quickie One

The Dinner Table

Early evening was quickly approaching…the blue skies overhead slowly giving way to a brilliant color palate of golden yellows and deep reds. Unfortunatley, as residents of the Jade Palace, the Five never had time to enjoy the majestic scenery, especially now, under Shifu's direct instruction to better themselves following the rampage, should a new threat arise.

But however bleak it seemed, and if there was one thing that the Five could look forward to after a particularly brutal day of training, it would have to be dinnertime…especially now, since Po—the Dragon Warrior—had been in their presence for a little over two weeks now, they had all become that much more enthusiastic about it.

Even from the panda's harshest critic.

Following his training under Shifu, Po had spent a good part of the late afternoon hours in the kitchen, preparing dinner for his comrades in celebration; it had now been officially one entire week since Po had rid the Valley of Peace from its snow leopard tormentor.

The invigorating aroma of his cooking didn't take long to weave its way into the training hall, tormenting its inhabitants for well over three hours with its intoxicating bouquet.

Monkey groaned in exhaustion, "If I don't eat something soon, I'm going to starve to death…" The golden languor collapsed in a heap just opposite the wooden warriors, utterly dispensed of his energy.

Viper and Crane both rolled their eyes at him as they watched him from the ledge of the course, taking a quick breather. Tigress just shot her simian comrade a smug look, gracefully (or at least as much grace as she could muster) dodging one of the swinging clubs.

"Quit complaining…we're all hungry too."

"Hey you guys!" Po shouted from the hallway, catching their attention, "Dinner's just about ready!" He stood away from the door, allowing the stampeding army that was the Furious Five into the kitchen and into their respective seats.

Mantis, in a surge of energy jumped up onto the wooden table, his small eyes darting between the various steaming pots and woks atop the stove; with mouth agape, he shouted, "FOOD! Sweet, glorious food…"

"Relax dude," Po said with a heartwarming laugh, "just have a seat with the others, will 'ya?"

Everyone at the table looked on with piqued curiosity as they watched the panda bring his spread to the table. He smirked in triumph—and slight amusement—as they dug in without any attempt at subtlety, pleased by their willingness to try every last bit of food he had prepared; after about all of five minutes, every last bit of food was gone: the steamed rice, egg rolls, vegetable stir-fry, his famous noodle soup…everything.

Which just left dessert…and what Po had spent most of his time actually preparing: cookies.

"I hope you guys left room for some dessert, because me and my dad had an awesome idea for a new kind of cookie." He smiled, bringing over the tray of curious-looking delicacies from the countertop. "You fold the cookie dough over while its still soft, and put a small piece of paper with a message inside it, and then bake them 'til they're all nice and crispy!"

Crane removed his hat to take a better look at the small morsels. "That's a really interesting concept…what do you call them?"

"Well, I couldn't think of a name, but leave it to my dad to think of something; he calls them 'fortune cookies'." He laughed, walking back over to the table.

Tigress chuckled, "Another secret family recipe, I'd assume?"

Po glanced in her direction, their eyes connecting briefly, "You could say that…"

Being the connoisseur of baked goods, the moment Monkey had gotten his from the panda, he analyzed the cookie with an inquisitive eye. He scratched his chin and looked at the panda, "So what's the best way to get to the paper inside?"

"Just break it apart in the middle, and then, you just separate the two halves…simple as pie."

Po rounded the table, dropping one into Viper's dish, then Crane's, and over to Mantis. Once he had gotten to Tigress' seat, he stopped for a moment. He took the cookie off the platter, and with a smooth, nonchalant movement, let his arm gently graze hers, delicately placing the small confection into her plate.

She shot a quick glance at the panda, who had by now taken his seat next to her at the head of the table. He looked at her and feigned an innocent expression, "…what?"

The feline just shook her head and cracked open the cookie, just as Po had instructed, the others quickly following suit. Po silently watched her movements as she tugged at the neatly tucked slip of paper from its shell, letting a small smirk hit his face as she mouthed the three words written on the small paper. Her eyes grew wider as she read it again, not even noticing the others laughing amongst each other and comparing their fortunes. The tiger picked up her chopsticks and dropped them onto the floor.

"Oh, clumsy me, I dropped my chopsticks…Po, could you help me get them please?"

The panda nodded as he bent over to grab the eating implements, meeting Tigress face-to-face underneath the table.

"So…good fortune?" He asked her with teasing eyes.

She smiled softly at him, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek, "Better than you'll ever know."