Author's note: I never thought I would write a Kung Fu Panda story one day, but there you go – here's one. I don't know anything about kung fu other than what I've seen in various films and I'm not even a geek about it, so I hope this is good enough. This snippet originated from the thought that Po, what with beating Tai Lung and becoming the Dragon Warrior, had gained a lot of self-confidence and self-respect – but what if something, albeit small, happened to make him doubt this newly-found trust? This and his relationship with Tigress (no romance here, though) because she seems so formal at the end, and it's the last time we see her and the Five. Lot of stuff for some 8 or 9-pages-long ficlet :o)

Oh, and I only saw Secrets of the Furious Five recently – there's a tiny reference in this story, but nothing spoilerish.

Thanks to ChaosAndMayhem for the American beta! :o]

Disclaimer: Kung Fu Panda belongs to Dreamworks, and all the characters and situations – you know the drill. I'd love to keep Po around, big plushy softie with amazing kung fu skills that he is, but I wouldn't know where to keep him :D

Weak spot

Raindrops were beating a steady, soothing rhythm on the roof of the Jade Palace, trickling in rivulets down the outer walls and slowly but surely turning earth into mud. It was on days like this one that students generally relished the warmth and dry of the classroom, watching the world of grey outside the windows and letting their minds wander. Po had spent many hours like these when he was little, day-dreaming about dazzling kung fu moves and fantastic legends.

Too bad this 'staying-in-doors-when-it-rained' thing didn't actually apply to kung fu masters.

"Ensure your footing!" he heard Master Shifu bark from where he sat on his plump shoulders, apparently without grabbing a single black hair of Po's fur. "If you can keep your balance on dry terrain, you can do it on wet and slippery ground. Mind your toes, you're –"

Too late. Po felt his right foot go up while his back and shoulders went down; half a second later he landed heavily in the mud, making a big splash.

"Ow, man," he wheezed, "didn't see that one coming."

"That's the trouble," came Master Shifu's voice near his left ear, not unkindly. Not a speck of mud on him, of course – he must have sensed the fall and jumped in time. "You must be able to take everything into account at once, so that when you fight, you know your environment and adapt. Get up."

The panda got to his feet, his legs still wobbling a bit, and saluted Crane, who had been his sparring partner. Then he took his place between Tigress and Viper as Mantis and Monkey stepped into the middle of the arena.

None of them slipped on the mud, thought Po without a hint of bitterness as he watched in wonderment, trying to clean his coarse, thick fur as best as he could. The fight, although Mantis was not much more than a green blur here and there, was as graceful as a dance, and each of the two masters actually used the rain to try and destabilise the adversary. They slid and glided, parrying and deflecting every blow with the strength and elegance that came with years and years of training.

Dragon Warrior or not, Po's awe and marvel at the Furious Five never dwindled in the months that he had spent after the defeat of Tai Lung, and now that Master Shifu had gone from the harsh slave-driver that he used to be to a gentler, more at peace version of himself – though his ear still twitched at times when he was exceedingly annoyed or irritated – the atmosphere had changed quite a bit. For the better.

"That was a good move you did earlier, Po," said Viper in her usual sweet voice, brushing water from her eyes. "Do you have a name for it?"

"Well – yeah, kinda," he answered earnestly, trying to dislodge the dirt sticking to his short round tail without ridiculous moves and failing utterly. "I thought about calling it 'The Ultimate Swoosh Kick of Awesome'–" he winked, and Viper giggled "– but I thought it sounded, you know, a bit … A bit –"

"A bit too much," Tigress curtly, wiping off her soaked sleeve that Po had flecked with mud without meaning it.

Po gave her an apologetic smile, scratching sheepishly the back of his neck. Though Tigress certainly showed more respect towards the panda than she had when he had first stepped foot into the Jade Palace (which really wasn't saying much!) she was still a great deal more aloof with him than she was with the rest of the Five.

She did treat him as an equal – occasionally calling him by his name instead of just 'Panda' – but never as a friend. As though, try as he may, he still hadn't achieved the level of coolness necessary to hang out with her and her gang. Now, he knew it wasn't like that, but … It was so darn hard to think better of it.

Maybe there was something wrong with him, and he just didn't know what.

"Don't worry about that," Mantis had said when Po had tentatively asked him why the fearsome feline seemed to dislike him so much. Actually, he'd really said was, "She totally hates me, right?"

"Nah, it just takes time for her to warm up to someone. Took me six months before she actually started a conversation, and longer to get a real smile. It was even longer for Monkey."

"So … How long d'you think it'll take?"

"In your case? Well, she's already gone a really long way. You know, Dragon Warrior, saving-the-Valley-of-Peace and stuff."

"Ah."

"Yeah. She's … an awfully private person."

"I noticed that."

"Right."

The conversation ended there, leaving Po with not much more to chew on except that Tigress didn't really hate him. At least not anymore.

He gave her a big goofy smile, trying to take up as little space as possible to make up for splashing her with mud. She said nothing in response, her eyes riveted to the fierce fight in front of her, rain dripping from her long whiskers.

Oookay.

Private person. Takes time.

I have all the time in the world, no problem.

When the fight finally ended (with Mantis having a dead grip on Monkey's long tail and somehow tying his right hand and left foot with it), Shifu called Tigress and Viper. But Po suddenly had an idea, and stepped in.

"Please, Master, I'd like to try again."

"Really? You have had your turn, haven't you?"

"Yeah, I know, but I think I've got something figured out about not slipping in the mud. Can I?"

Shifu squinted up at him through the rain, the hint of a smile in his eyes.

"Do you, now? Well, let's see it. Viper, would you mind?"

Something in Po's stomach churned slightly as his friend slithered back to the sidelines and winked encouragingly at him. He had hoped that he'd be fighting her instead.

It wasn't that he didn't like sparring with Tigress. She was amazing, of course, always moving with a predator's speed and strength, and each time he stopped to think for a second about what he should do next, she somehow managed to topple him and he never failed to hit the ground.

But that wasn't what upset him, either. When Monkey, Viper or any of the others defeated him, they offered him a smile and a hand to help him up – figuratively speaking, of course: Crane would offer a wing, Mantis one of those … thingies of his and Viper had no hands anyway – like he would when he won. With Tigress, he counted himself lucky if she spared him a terse nod.

The two opponents circled each other until, keeping his mind carefully trained on the supernaturally delicious noodles his dad would make him when he came home tonight, Po attacked.

He had figured something out. Once, when he was a bit younger, he had knocked over a giant pan full of noodles his dad had just made for a entire wedding reception. His dad had not flown into a rage – he never did – he hadn't even yelled. But the sudden hopelessness and disappointment in his usually twinkling eyes had been more than Po could bear, and he had immediately set about making the biggest, most scrumptious noodle meal that he had so far.

The kitchen floor had been strewn with bamboo shoots, mushroom gills and various ingredients apart from the noodles, and there was oily hot water all over, but he had made it. The customers had been so pleased that they had congratulated as one the chef for such wonderful cuisine, only to hear Mr Ping loyally – and prouder than he'd ever been in his life – reply that his son actually deserved the praise, as he'd done everything himself.

You've faced a treacherously slippery kitchen floor, you can face treacherously slippery mud. No biggie.

Still, Po was somewhat astonished that the recollection worked so well. There even seemed to be a glimmer of surprise and – what? Admiration? At what? – in Tigress' eyes as the panda flawlessly parried her blows and used what he called 'the Power of Bouncy Squishiness' to turn her own force and momentum against her.

He hadn't slipped once so far. And Master Shifu hadn't said anything since the beginning of the fight.

It wasn't until the two adversaries took a step back to regain their breath that things got a little awry. Panting, Po watched the small cloud of steam that regularly surrounded Tigress' nose each time she exhaled, and she kept her vivid red eyes on him, appraising him. Apparently she had never thought he would last that long on a ground that was so much to his disadvantage.

They launched again into the fight, both breaking their stances at the same time, Tigress leaping gracefully and executing a perfect flip in mid-air. Po couldn't help but stare, even just for half a second, at the seemingly weightless ball of energy in front of him.

This was his undoing.

And the worst thing was, this time, he did see it coming. As clear as the water in the Moon Pool.

Tigress lashed out with her right paw, fingers folded tightly against her open palm, and just as Po deflected the blow, her left paw came out of nowhere and crashed right into his nose.

Po would later remember that something started to hurt in his bottom teeth, and that he had had time, in this fraction of a second, to find it weird.

A millisecond later, his stomach twisted, what seemed like a red curtain fell in front of his eyes, and he collapsed in the mud, dead to the world.

It was the sound of the rain that woke him.

The patter the drops made when each of them hit the roof came dimmed, as though from far away, or as though he had cotton stuck somewhere between his ears and his brain. His whole body felt as if somebody had replaced the muscles with red-hot lead and his eyes ached beneath his closed lids.

Surprisingly, the only part of him that didn't hurt so much it made him want to scream was his nose. It felt bruised, sure, but not as much as the rest.

What the heck had happened? He'd been doing fine until that last punch – that was what had knocked him out. Tigress hadn't hit that hard, had she? She always went easy enough during training, never quite using her full strength. Besides, Po was certain that he'd received worse blows before, if only from Tai Lung. Surely he could stand a simple punch on the nose?

Obviously he couldn't. This fact made his mind spin. His stomach followed suit and he tried to think hard of something else.

Like the almost inaudible rustling sound not so far from where he lay.

He tried to crack his eyes open.

All he got was a thin sliver of his room at the Jade Palace, and a reddish blur that grew in size as it got closer, moving almost completely noiselessly.

Po realised with no small amount of surprise that it was Tigress.

She was the last person he had expected.

"You're awake."

It wasn't a question, hardly a statement, uttered in the usual dry tones she used for him. Typically, she didn't beat around the bush.

Wait. Something was off. There was the hint of something else in her voice, and Po didn't know what it was. Curiosity won the fight with the temptation to slip back into sweet oblivion and he struggled harder to open his eyes wider.

His room was dark – the screen walls always softened the light of the day and the dark of the night, creating an atmosphere that was soothing and perfect for meditation. Meditating, however, was the farthest thing from Po's mind at the moment as Tigress swam into focus. She looked the same as ever, although the panda sensed a tension, something like a taut string that she didn't usually give off.

Po opened his mouth to ask a) what had actually happened – seen from the outside – and b) why she looked more high-strung than usual. But right about then a thought hit him with the precision of one of Viper's Lightening attacks and turned what he was about to say into, "Wait – it's night already? I've been out that long? What about my dad, I was supposed to service tonight …"

"Calm down," she said, in a gentler tone than he had thought she would use. "Shifu went down to the village to tell your father that you couldn't come home tonight. He's back, now, though. I'll get him if you want."

"N–no. Wait."

She had got up without waiting for his answer, but sat back down, a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

"What did you hit me with, exactly?"

A thin dark eyebrow raised quizzically.

"Er – my paw?"

"I mean which strike did you use?" snapped Po. It was enough that she always managed to make him feel like an idiot. He really didn't need her treating him like one. Thankfully, she very rarely did. "Was it – acupressure or something? Some kind of nerve attack?"

This time she looked nonplussed.

"It was just a regular straight punch," she said, oddly combining a somewhat hesitant voice and an inquisitive stare that made Po shift a bit uncomfortably.

"No, it can't – that's – that's not –" He stopped stammering, his mouth opening and closing a few times. Then he grit his teeth as determination settled in and he came to a conclusion.

"Hit me on the nose."

Tigress' slanted eyes grew very round. "What?!"

"You heard me just fine, didn't ya?"

"What are you, nuts?" she snapped, halfway between anger and incredulous laughter. "I'm not punching you now, you look as though you couldn't even stand on your feet to save your life!"

"Oh, come on!" pleaded Po, deflating like a punctured balloon as his determined countenance slipped away. "You don't have to hit me hard, you know – it's just to check – a little punch on the nose can't make me pass out – I can't be that lame, right?"

Tigress said nothing, but kept eyeing him, apparently pondering something.

"… Right?" Po insisted, looking beseechingly at her and waiting for her to confirm that his fears were totally unfunded.

"All right," she said after a little while, still uncertain. "All right, I'll – I'll hit you."

He gave a big grin and sat up, his head still swimming a bit but staring at Tigress straight in the eye. She rolled her eyes at his display of what she clearly thought was misplaced earnestness.

"You do realise that this – striking a man while he's down – goes against every principle I hold sacred, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Po replied dismissively with his usual enthusiasm. "Hit me with your best shot." He shifted a bit when she gave him a warning look and corrected, "Okay, maybe not your best shot."

He saw her paw draw back and fill his field of vision.

The very next moment, he was lying on his back again, the same sharp pain shooting through his body up to the very tip of his ears and fingers.

He couldn't help but groan.

"Po! Po, you idiot – Po, are you all right?"

Tigress' half angry, half afraid voice came muffled, but he did feel a hand on his shoulder. This made him work harder on getting his eyes open, but he was too dizzy and dazed to make anything of what he was seeing.

"Hey, Ti–Tigress – you've gone all b–blurry …"

He heard rather than saw her give an exasperated, albeit rather shaky sigh. "You're impossible."

"Yeah, I – I know."

Now that the pain and dizziness subsided, they left a big space for stinging shame and just plain old defeat to fill. Po felt his ears burn up. After Master Shifu's training, after beating Tai Lung, after all that Dragon Warrior business … He was still a wuss – who fainted from a punch on the nose. On the nose.

It was ridiculous.

"You didn't hit very hard, did you?" He knew that she hadn't.

"No," she replied tersely, apparently unaware of his suddenly subdued state. "But you will not get me again to hit you when you're so obviously in no shape for – do you realise, if anything had gone wrong, I – are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah," he muttered, barely mastering a childish impulse to cry by chewing hard on his lower lip. Even after Master Shifu had admitted he had no idea how to turn a big, fat panda like him into the Dragon Warrior had he not felt this bad. Perhaps because his expectations hadn't been so high then – man, he'd been hanging out with the Furious Five! Expectations didn't get better than this!

But now, for the first time, he had found – if not his "right place in the world" – at least a decent spot where the people he cared about and admired the most accepted him, and even seemed to like him, warts and all. His old dad was proud of his son, though Po suspected it had slightly less to do with kung-fu and more with the fact that his Dragon Warrior did make some of the meanest noodles this side of the Valley of Peace.

And all that – the acceptance, the respect – everything had just been a big fat mistake.

He didn't hear (or didn't want to) the little voice at the back of his mind pointing out, "Hello-o – we've already gone through that, remember?"

Tigress hadn't left. He wished she had, because his nose started stinging, and it definitely wasn't a remnant of her punch.

She was now peering at him, trying to catch his eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked bluntly, but in uncharacteristically soft tones. "Look, I'm sorry about earlier – calling you an idiot was really out-of-line – but it was such a stupid idea and I guess I just … I was afraid I had done you serious damage. But you're not upset about this, are you," she added. Again, despite the inquisitive tone, this wasn't a question at all. Po could almost feel her insistent stare trying to bore into his brain and fish out whatever was making him react this way.

He was tempted to shrug it off – put it down to tiredness or what have you – but something in his throat blocked the words before they got out.

"I'm a fake," he mumbled instead.

There. He'd said it.

As he heard nothing from the other side, he kept on stammering, "I – I mean, can you believe it? A smack on the nose and I'm out? Some Master." He sat up, propping himself on his paws, trying not to wince and purposely not meeting Tigress' eyes. That was just as well; she must be disgusted.

"Let's face it, I'm pathetic."

"That you are."

What? This made him raise his eyes and stare at Tigress, his mouth open in disbelief and hurt. Was that what she really thought of him all along?

He had expected her to look stern, angry, or disappointed. He wasn't prepared for her reaction.

She was smiling.

A genuine, fully-fledged smile. Not a smirk, not a scary grin – just a smile.

"Good. That got your attention."

Po, who had been stubbornly avoiding looking at her for the past five minutes, now found himself incapable to turn his gaze elsewhere, too stunned for words.

She thinks I'm pathetic.

Does she?

Nah, that was just to get your attention and stop that feeling-sorry-for-yourself kick you were on.

She smiled at me.

She never does, but she's smiling at me.

I'm so in trouble.

"I never noticed that you've got green eyes."

He snapped out of it. "What?"

She shook her head, still wearing that small, though unnervingly kind smile.

"So you think nobody here has got a weak spot?"

Po shrugged, dropping his gaze to the floor. "I don't have a weak spot. I am a weak spot."

"Don't be a fool."

"But it's true! I'm a liability! What if – what if I had to watch your back in battle, and someone just pushes the magic button and I go out –"

The smile faded, and a warning flashed in the red eyes. Po's mouth snapped shut.

"You still don't see my point, do you? Everyone here has something that works to his or her disadvantage. It's more or less a secret, but I thought Viper for one did tell you about hers."

Po frowned in recollection. "Yeah, she told me that she didn't have any venom, but what's it got to do with –"

"– My point? Everything! It's a weak spot she has, but she's gotten so good at what she does that you'd never suspect she feels she has something missing. No venom's pretty shameful for a snake, you know."

"But if I protect my nose when I fight, everyone will know where to hit!" Po pointed out. She grew serious, going back to the stern Master he had grown used to.

"Then you must find a way to protect your nose without drawing attention to it. That's not an easy task, but not impossible."

"I'm all ears!" he exclaimed, enthusiasm creeping back in through the back door. She pinned him with a critical gaze.

"You want me to help you?"

"Heck yeah! I mean …" He hesitated. "D'you mind?"

She seemed to consider this for a moment, and eventually shook her head. "No, I don't think I – why would I?"

The edge of his mattress suddenly became very interesting as Po fidgeted with it. "Well," he drawled uncertainly, "I figured you – we don't get along that much."

She blinked, visibly taken aback, but said nothing. So he continued with an effort.

"I mean – you talk to me and you call me 'Master' sometimes and everything, but … I – you never smile at me, and you never say anything personal at all, and …"

He stuttered into a pause and ended by bursting out, "Why don't you like me?"

And immediately cursing himself silly for actually saying something this stupid out loud. He didn't try to correct himself, though, in case opening his big mouth made it worse. Worser, more like.

"Is that what you – whatever gave you that idea?" Tigress asked, the bemused look leaving her eyes and letting their usual shrewdness back in. Po gave her a meaningful stare.

"C'mon, I'm not dumb. I noticed. I just wanna know why."

"I don't," she said, staring unblinkingly into his eyes. Po winced.

"You don't wanna know why?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, I mean I don't – hate you. I never did."

He raised an eyebrow at her. She gave a slight smile that almost made him whimper and run and hide. That was definitely not a smile of the kind-hearted sort.

"All right, I admit I sort of did. At first. A little."

"Huh," Po ventured, completely unconvinced.

"What?"

"If you hated me a little, man, then I pity the poor dude you hate a lot."

"Look, I –"

"I mean, let's face it, you just couldn't stand me, right? Thought I saw your nose do that funny thing it does when you're smelling somethin' bad – at the beginning you used to do that all the time when I was around –"

"Well, I –"

"Not that I blame you, I mean, really, it's fine – I didn't even notice early on anyway –"

"I thought you wanted respect!" Tigress finally almost shouted. Po flinched. Her eyes were burning, but that wasn't what actually made him shuffle back a little. Even at her most angry or upset, Tigress never shouted. She didn't need to. Her angry whisper was so much scarier than any enraged roar.

She composed herself at lightening speed, though.

"Sorry." She cleared her throat and went on in her ordinary voice, "I – I thought you wanted to be treated like a Master, and I thought you deserved it. After Tai Lung and everything."

"But …" Po ventured uncertainly, "you don't act around the others like you do around me – I thought I'd, you know, done something to upset you and I couldn't figure out what."

There was disbelief in her red eyes now. "But you're the Dragon Warrior! I can't – I'm not supposed to be –"

"Friendly?"

"No – yes – no – I mean … Is that what you want? But respect is –"

Po leaned forward and grinned. Really wide.

"Look, just being with you – working, eating with you – the way you don't look at me like I'm a freak of nature … That's enough for me. I know you respect me. I'd just like us to be friends, that's all."

"Friends?" Tigress said oddly.

Po nodded. "Yup. Friends."

She eyed him, as though assessing him, and made to salute him. Before she completed the gesture, however, she seemed to change her mind and extended her paw.

"I suppose I could try," she said softly, as Po eagerly grasped it, careful not to crush the fingers, in spite of the fact that she was likely to crush his first.

He gave his best Big Goofy Grin – trademark of a Happy Panda – and unlike the other times, she didn't ignore it, nor did she shake her head or rolled her eyes. She even gave a tentative smile of her own as she looked down at the two paws, red and black.

"Well, that's a start," he joked with a wink.

Friends.

He liked the sound of that.

For the longest time this had no ending whatsoever – but I finally got around to writing it! Yay :)

What did you think?

:o]