Crane removed his head from beneath his wing and slowly stretched out his neck. The poor bird had been run ragged the past week or so. With Shifu and half the team gone, bandits from everywhere and anywhere had decided it would be a nice time to do a few robberies or so. None of them succeeded of course, but the avian had been moving almost constantly, along with Viper and Monkey. The three of them had volunteered to stay behind in the hopes that they could take things a little more easily for a few days. Karma could really bite.

Crane shook the stiffness out of his wings and walked to the kitchen where Monkey was yawning over a bowl of rice. "How late did you stay up," Crane asked of his friend.

"No too late," Monkey said, "I just couldn't really sleep either way. My tail was sore so I couldn't rest on it, and it was even worse trying to sleep on my back. As soon as Mantis returns I need to ask him for some acupuncture treatments.

"Same here," Viper said as she slithered in. Having put on her usual makeup, she didn't look half as tired as Monkey and Crane felt; though her movements were a bit stiff, which was unusual for the normally gliding female.

"Yeah, if he and the others ever get back," Crane commented as he dug through the cabinets. Upon finding some leftover bean buns that were on the verge of going bad, he figured he might as well put them to good use.

"Of course they're coming back," Viper said as she watched Crane put his breakfast in a bowl. "Don't be ridiculous."

Monkey chewed his rice thoughtfully. The others had been gone for longer than they'd estimated. Maybe someone had been injured, or worse. A few thoughts of panic hovered in his mind before he cast them aside in favor of more rice. What was the point of worrying? Tigress was Tigress, the capable and ever determined one; Mantis wasn't the type to get injured and slow the group down and Po-

He cut his own thoughts off with a displeasured grunt. He and the panda were yet to get over the slight they'd had with one another at lunch a week or so ago. Viper sensed he was thinking about this and rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"Get over it, okay? You guys are good friends who had a silly fight, and once you realize that then things will go back to normal."

"As normal as things ever are around here," Crane said, though he spoke with a fond smile.

Monkey chuckled. "True. Very, very true."

….

"GET BACK HERE!"

This proclamation was answered with shrieks of laughter, as three children darted in and out of the bamboo trees.

"I mean it," the mother shouted again as she chased them.

The three of them continued to laugh uncontrollably as she grabbed each of them by the tail, hoisted them up, and carried them back to the path.

"What impressive parenting skills," said Shifu with a smirk. She gave him a mild glare before shoving a four-year-old in his arms. Said child began to bat at his beard and yank on his mustache, resulting in yelps of pain.

"What is with them," Tigress asked out of pure curiosity (and maybe a bit of annoyance).

"They're just hyper," Shifu told her. "I think," he said as he tried to stop little Hope from chewing on his robe. He pulled her off and held her in front of himself. "How old are y-

"FOUR!"

"Well then why are you acting like this?"

"HUNGRY!"

"ME TOO!"

"ME THREE!"

"MAKE THAT FOUR!"

That last one was from Po.

"Shifu can we stop at the noodle shop, huh, can we? Huh, can we can we can we? CAN WE-

He was cut off by a punch to the jaw from Tigress. Hope giggled hysterically and Shifu finally had to put her down so she could roll around and kick with laughter, without hurting him. A minute part of him was fascinated by children, as many people are. Tiny creatures that grew into adults. Hope was especially tiny, only a little higher than the master's own knee; at head height of course. Her ears went up to his waist.

While waiting for her to calm down a bit, he saw that Taia had managed to get her older children, Li and Benji, to clam up for a while, as she put it. This was a much appreciated thing, for once Shifu picked Hope up once more and walked forwards a ways, he saw that the Valley of Peace was just below them. He sighed with relief at the thought of the peaceful walk home that was sure to follow.

Then, of course, Po had an idea.

"Hey Mantis, bet I could beat you to the noodle shop!"

"You couldn't beat a pregnant lady to the noodle shop!"

"Oh yeah?! I bet I could beat you AND Tigress WHILE carrying this little dude-

He paused to pick up Benji.

-on my back!"

Benji grinned from his place in piggy back position. The kid still had bandages wrapped around his head injuries, yet he was happy as could be. Go figure.

Mantis countered this challenge by walking over to Shifu, taking Hope, and having her sit down on top of his strong claws.

"One-

-two-

-THREE!"

And with that, the two raced down the hill carrying the exited children. Li turned to Tigress, looking hopeful. Her wish was granted when Tigress declared that the boys would be defeated, and raced down the hill with Li on her shoulders.

"BE CAREFUL WITH MY KIDS, YOU NUTS!"

"Why is everyone yelling lately? As soon as we get back home I need to meditate for a few hours. Make that days. No a full week should do it.

Shifu expected to hear his female companion to answer, but she was hanging back.

"It just hit me," she said before he could ask. "I'm going home. HOME. My real, actual, honest-to-goodness, grew-up-there home."

"And…?"

"And? And?"

She stood there for a minute before smiling. When he was younger that smile used terrify him, because he knew that she was about to go-

"COME ON!"

-crazy. And she did.

She raced by and nearly ripped his arm off as she dragged him down the hill.

"Whoa," he cried as the two of them picked up speed. Before long they were caught in the dust cloud that the younger master's had created. Soon though, it was they who were eating dust, as Taia zipped ahead. Shifu managed to wring his hand free, but didn't slow. A grin came as the two bounded down the dirt path that had been carved out by travelers. It was early summer and the grass was lush, healthy green, with wildflowers speckling the landscape. Around the valley the mountains stood tall and proud, with the sun just beginning to rise over them, lighting the way with an orange blaze. His grin broadened as he was taken back to a time when he was younger, running around atop those mountains, inspecting every nook and cranny until he knew them like the back of his own hand. He looked up to see that they were just nearing the village. The two both slowed so as to avoid any potential lawsuits, and waited for the others to catch up.

"How's it going slow pokes," Taia teased.

"Oh it's fine," Po said. "Because we were racing to the noodle shop, not just to the village, and since you don't know where that is, I believe WE will be the winners."

"Don't get so cocky. As soon as we get back I'll be kicking your butt all over that Training Hall."

"Sure you say so… Now then, TO THE NOODLES!"

"NOODLES," Benji cried with approval, as Po continued towards his old place of residence. As of the moment the shop was mostly devoid of customers, so when Po arrived and walked through the rounded archway, his father had plenty of time to run over and reach his wings as far around the panda's midsection as was possible.

"Oh Po, I was so worried about you son! I heard that someone was trying to take over China! How could you run off without telling your father you were saving China again, hm? If you ask me it's rude! I raised you better!"

"Aw come on Dad, I-

"Never mind! Have you had breakfast? Did you have dinner last night? You look like you've lost weight! Oh this is no good… Noodles! That's what you need, is noodles!"

Mister Ping had just turned around to go start cooking when he realized something. "Why do you have a child on your head?"

"Oh yeah, Dad this is Benji, Benji this is my dad. He's one of the best cooks you'll ever know."

"Better than Ming?"

"Actually now that you mention it, Ming's cooking was pretty good-

"WHAT? Someone who cooks better than me! Nonsense! Sit down at a table and I'll give you REAL food!"

As he began preparing things, Mister Ping asked, "So, Po, how did you meet your little friend?"

"Who you calling little?"

"It's kind of a long story dad, I-

"Hey Po," Mantis interrupted. He hopped up onto the table and assisted Hope in crawling into one of the stools. "Do you think maybe we should let the others know we're back?"

"That's a good thought… One of us could run up there and let them know."

"If it requires running then I don't think you're the right one for the job Po," Tigress snarked as she set Li down next to her sister.

"Cheap shot, kitty," Po muttered.

Mister Ping got the water boiling and tossed in vegetables and the ingredients for the broth. After so many years of practice it didn't take much time to make his soup, and before long he was carrying six bowls to the table. After giving everyone a bowl he looked to his son and questioned, "Well? Are you going to tell me the whole story or not? I don't have all day, and there are three children at this table I don't know."

"Well you see Dad, what happened was-

"Po?"

"Huh?"

Po looked to where Monkey was standing in the street in front of the shop. He just stared. Po stood up.

"Monkey?

"Po."

"Monkey."

"Po!"

"MONKEY!"

The two ran towards each other, their fight forgotten, and embraced.

"I'm so sorry," Po shouted, actually crying a little.

"Me too! I never want to fight like that again!"

"Me neither! Waaah!"

"Waaah!"

"For the love of Kung Fu, shut up the both of you," Tigress snapped, not in the mood for sentimentality. Po and Monkey remembered their macho manliness and gave each other a fist bump. Monkey shared another fist bump with his long time buddy Mantis.

"What took you guys so long to get home? We heard something about a crazy cobra."

"Well you see, what happened was-

"Oh my gosh, you're home!"

Viper leapt through the doorway and wrapped herself around Po in a hug. She did the same to Tigress, and kissed Mantis on the cheek, causing him to blush hideously.

"Uh, erm, what was that for…?"

"Nothing, I just really missed you. All of you!"

She turned back to the rest of the group, leaving poor Mantis to sit there perplexed.

"We totally missed you too Viper! You wouldn't believe what all happened to us! You see, first we-

"Hey, I- You guys are back!"

"CAN I PLEASE FINISH THE STORY," Po yelled at poor, confused Crane.

"Quit yelling like that," Mister Ping called to his son. Po sighed, apologized to the flying master, told him they'd missed him too, and then began his story once more.

A FEW MINUTES LATER

"Wow, so a lot happened," Monkey commented when Po finally concluded his story.

"Yep. That's pretty much the whole thing. Except a left out the part about…"

The panda had neglected to mention Taia, feeling Master Shifu would do a better job of explaining why a woman and her children would be moving in temporarily.

"The part about what," Crane asked.

"You'll see later," said Mantis.

"What? What are you guys trying to hide?"

Just then Shifu walked in followed by Taia. The two had been wandering around, remembering what the village looked like during their youth, reminiscing about old battles, and the like. Now they walked over, causing a few eyebrows to be raised as to why Shifu was with a woman.

"It is good to see the three of you again," Shifu said, smiling pleasantly while bowing in greeting to Viper, Monkey, and Crane. The students bowed in respect to their master before exchanging some looks.

"Hey! Nice to meet you guys! The name's Taia, Master Taia."

Taia shook Viper's tail, Crane's wing, and Monkey's hand in greeting. The three of them said hello politely and waited for an explanation.

"Ah, yes, I do suppose I should explain your presence to them, Taia."

"You mean you guys didn't tell them we're going to live with you?" She asked this while cleaning off Hope's face with a cloth, and then Benji's, much to his annoyance. When she tried to move on to Li she received an evil glare. Taia sighed, sad about the fact that her oldest was old enough to clean her own face and handed her the cloth. While all of this was going on Monkey and Crane had been firing questions left and right, and Viper just watched.

Po got them to shut up by filling in the blanks on his story.

"Alright then…," Monkey said, still a little surprised by the whole thing.

"When are we going home, Mommy?"

"Soon baby, soon. Shifu and I haven't eaten yet. Tell you what: why don't you guys show the kids around while we grab a bite to eat? Sound good?"

"Yay!"

The three of them hopped up and ran out the doorway.

"Hey wait up!"

The Five ran after the hyper kids. Before he followed Po whispered to his dad, "Hey, listen, I want you to give those two the Romantic Dinner Combo."

"Two soups in one large bowl?"

"Yep."

"But Po, why?"

"Look at them, and figure it out. For now I have some kids to catch."

Po ran out and Mr. Ping stared at the two red pandas. He and Shifu weren't exactly close, but they had a fair enough friendship, and for the life of him he couldn't remember seeing him like this. The two of them had had a short argument, which ended in laughter, which ended in a threat, which lead to an arm wrestling match. At the rate things were going his table was going to break, so he did as Po asked and set a large bowl of soup in between them. He put a smaller bowl of dumplings to the side, just to be safe.

"Ah, thank you Mister Ping."

"Mm, smells good."

The two of them broke from their duel. Each grabbed a spoon and a pair of chopsticks, and chowed down. Taia took a dumpling, dipped it in the soup and let it get soggy before she popped it in her mouth. Shifu alternated between the two and was about to take another spoonful of soup when he hear a loud slurping noise.

"Do you mind? Those noises you make while eating are repulsive."

"You could just say gross."

"Forgive me for trying to sound dignified, instead of as if I was brought up on a farm."

"Is that a crack?"

"What?"

"My parents were farmers!"

"So, they didn't raise you!"

"Fair point…"

With that she went silent and looked down at her food. He winced a little, worried that he'd hit a sensitive spot, which was the last thing he needed to do right now. "Do you miss them," he asked, hoping to recover.

"No. I didn't know them, so there's nothing to miss. Except for…" She trailed off and sighed, almost exasperated. "Sometimes I just wish that Kara and I had been raised together. If I'd had more time with her I would have apologized, she would've forgiven me, and we would have gone on with our lives. But as it was we didn't see each other until we were adults, and you and I… Well let's not talk about that. As it is I have a little question for you; about your leg."

Now that was a sensitive subject, and she knew it. He looked her in the eyes and asked, "What about my leg?"

"How do you feel about it?"

"I feel little to nothing towards it now. I have gained Inner Peace, and thus have cleared my mind of any past grievances."

"Very well then…" She didn't buy it for a minute. Before long they finished and Mr. Ping came to collect the dishes.

"So," he asked. "How long have the two of you been dating?"

"What?" Shifu looked horrified when he heard Mr. Ping ask this. "W-w-we're not together! Not now! Not ever!"

"Well gee, I was just asking a question! You don't have to be all shouty with me! Besides, if you want to get mad and blame someone, blame Po! He's the one who made me give you a Romantic Dinner!"

"A romantic..? Ugh…"

The tired master put his elbows on the table and rubbed his sore temples. He looked up and Taia just shrugged and looked away. They sat there for a moment, before Shifu placed a few coins on the table in payment and rose to leave. Taia quickly jumped up and followed him.

"So we're going back huh?"

"That's the plan."

"We should probably round the kids up if that's the case."

"Yes, indeed."

After an extensive search they finally managed to find the entire group at the general store. Li and Benji were fighting over action figures, while Hope was cuddling a life sized stuff gorilla. The students weren't much better, with Po rummaging through mini warriors, Monkey, Mantis, and Crane arguing, and Viper trying to persuade Tigress to look for new clothes, resulting in a lot of growling.

"Come on heathens! We're homeward bound!"

"Interesting pet names you have for them…"

"No one asked for your opinion."

"Given."

"Taken, by me, and never paid for or returned."

"You're weird."

"Thank you."

Shifu rolled his eyes as the children and so-called adults came over and joined them on their walk to the Stairs. They crossed the bridge and walked through the row of finer houses before reaching the base of the steps. The children tilted their heads back to see the building at the top, which even from their place looked vast and wondrous.

"We're gonna live up there?"

"Yes," Shifu answered Benji's question. "For the time being."

"Oh. Cool!"

Immediately the two older children began a mad dash upwards, followed by Crane and Tigress who had a feeling that the kids would need help about half way up. Hope remained where she was, still a little dumbfounded, and feeling even smaller than usual. Taia lifted her, tossed her in the air, and brought her down to snuggle against her chest as they too began the long walk upwards.

"I remember the first time walking up these steps. I nearly passed out half way up," Shifu mentioned off-handedly.

"Same here," Taia agreed. "But we ended up walking up and down so many times it was-

"Easy as punching a bandit," he guessed.

"Yes. You know I never understood why that saying didn't catch on."

"For many reasons. The main one being that it sounds ridiculous."

She rolled her eyes as they continued their ascension. As predicted the kids got worn out quickly and had to be carried. They reached the top and Taia set hope down.

"Ladies, gentlemen, children of all ages! Come one come all to the one, the only, JADE PALACE!"

"YAY!"

Having finished his hammy speech, Po opened the gate doors and led the kids up the shorter flight of steps. The Five followed.

Taia stood in place, staring at the large doors. This was it. The gate to her life as a Master… It had first been opened for her long ago by a wise man whose faith was strong and his wisdom great. And she herself had slammed it shut that night when her anger had consumed her. Fear, cold and icy, shot through her liked lightning as she wondered if this was a wise decision to come back.

Shifu's sensitive ears detected a gulp. "Nervous?"

"Nervous? No, no, why would I be nervous? I'm just about to go into the place that I lived for nearly my entire childhood as well as a portion of my adult life. It's just the place that I had memorized every square inch of and vowed to guard and protect with my life. Just the place where my…" Her voice softened. "Where my Master lived…"

He felt uncomfortable seeing her like this. He wasn't exactly good with emotions. Shifu swallowed and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him, and her eyes filled him with sadness.

"He's still there you know. In his own way he will always be there, and everywhere. And especially here." He rested his finger tips atop her heart. He smiled gently, reassuring her that everything would be fine. Her fear melted away quickly as she stared into his blue eyes. A smile crossed her lips.

"You know you're touching my breast, right?"

With that he snatched his hand away and made a mental note to wash it a few thousand times; for the moment wiping it on his robe would have to do. He grumbled as she laughed at him wickedly, which in turn earned her a stink eye.

"Come on perv, let's go on up!"

Rolling his eyes at being called a 'perv', he pushed the door open that led to the lower yard. She ran in looked around a bit and jogged up the stairs. She made sure to look at the rocks, the sunlight bouncing off the bright green jade that peeked through the gray stones, the way they always had. He followed, hot on her heels as they reached the Great Door that opened to the Palace itself. With a deep breath Taia pushed the doors open wide.

The Hall was a strange mix of color at this time of day. The Reflecting Pool, as well as the sky outside, bounced shades of blue off of the green stone floors. A few candles were lit, their flames waving in the slight breeze. The same breezed sent a tickle through the shelves of ancient scrolls, a crackling of old paper following its movement.

She closed her eyes and breathed in the bamboo and sandal wood incenses that were burned during meditation hours. The large ears picked up the gentle ripples in the water. The polished stone was cold beneath her feet. Her senses were at such a height it was as if they didn't belong to her, and instead dwelled somewhere beyond her mind and body.

This was the place… This was where she belonged. For good.

"I'M HOME!"

Her shout echoed through the many hallways and Shifu had to wince and lay his ears flat to tolerate the noise. Taia's somber concentration had been shattered, and she was now bouncing off the walls, re-familiarizing herself with the place.

"Look at all the weapons! Oh, you used that to knock a guy out! Cool! And that's the hallway to the dungeon, awesome! Oh my gosh, look at all the DRAGONS! I loved these dragons! I remember we used to make up names for them, remember? And we used to have those ceremonies in here all the time, and we'd spar, and break something, and then we'd have to tell Oogway and he'd-

"Slow down," he commanded as he grabbed her tail tip to get her to stop running and talking a million miles an hour.

"BUT I'M-!"

"I know. You are excited to be home. This I understand. But I need you to calm yourself before we have a repeat of one of those breaking-things incidents you so keenly mentioned."

"Okay, okay," she said, mostly to herself, trying to focus. "Keep calm… Keep calm…"

A few deep breaths later and she was as zen as ever, though she still wore a smile of elation.

"Good; excellent work getting in control. Now then, let us head in the direction of the Barracks. I believe that is where we shall find the others at the moment."

"Great! And I can show the kids around!"

"Yes. Later we'll have to assign them rooms."

"Now that I think none of them have ever had their own room. Not to mention they'll need all new clothes after everything in our house burnt down."

Yes," he said carefully as they began the trek to the Barracks. "Once again I'm very sorry that had to happen."

"Oh, it's not your fault," she hand waved. "Crud happens. I'm just glad all the important stuff got out first, like the kids, the people, and my knife!"

"Yes, we certainly can't forget old Trusty, can we?"

"You remembered the name," she said in more of an awed statement than a question. As they walked she pulled out the knife and examined the blade. A few spots, now browned, remained, having not been able to be properly cleaned. She gulped remembering what she had done to- No, no, no! She would NOT regret what she did to that bastard… NEVER!

"I remember the day you received that knife," Shifu spoke, shattering her thoughts. "Your parents had left a few things to the two of you and the orphanage hung on to them until you were eighteen."

"Yeah," she said, trying to bring her mind back down to Earth. "I remember when the Matron showed up and gave me a box. She said she'd already been to see Kara… And that she'd left the only thing she didn't want."

"I still recall how excited you looked when you opened up and found it inside. You spent hours polishing it up."

"Well its old you know!"

"Yes, and it is enjoyable to see you treat something with such reverence."

They were nearly upon the Barracks now. The building was sheltered with a few older trees and bushes as well as the bamboo that grew every year.

"It's particularly tall this year," Shifu commented.

"Yes, it is. Speaking of bamboo, isn't that your flute?"

It was his bamboo flute. Someone had left it lying on the ground. Snarling he picked it up and made quick work of cleaning off the dirt and dust it had collected.

"You know as excited as you say I was about the knife, I can't imagine I was any happier than you were when Oogway gave that to you."

It had been a gift from his master on the day he turned eighteen, and Shifu had treasured it ever sense, the way he did so with anything Master Oogway gave him or had a special connection with. In this way he felt closer to him. He looked forward to talking more about their master with Taia, but for now he needed to figure out whose tail he was going to kick for leaving his flute in the yard. With this in mind he marched up the steps and opened the door firmly. Taia followed behind, wanting to see what her old room looked like now, and also interested to see if she was going to get to watch some butt kicking.

Po had set the kids up with his action figure to distract them while he laid down his match maker plan to Monkey, Crane, and Viper. While he explained what they (or he, and Tigress and Mantis via force) had done to try and set their Master up with their new friend, they looked at him with interest. As soon as he finished Monkey slapped him.

"OW! What was that for?"

"For coming up with a really good idea and not following through!"

"What?"

Both Po and Tigress said this. In reply Monkey shrugged. "What can I say, I'm a hopeless romantic. Besides Po's right; it's about time Shifu loosened up. I mean sure he's a lot looser now then he was a year or so ago, but still, what's the harm in trying to get him a girlfriend?"

"SEE. Monkey knows what's up!"

"Po, this isn't a good idea," Crane, always the moral guardian, said. "If they have feelings they need to figure it out for their own; Shifu especially considering his issues."

Po grunted and pinched the bridge of his noise while saying, "Don't you get it? That's the point of this whole thing! Shifu would NEVER admit it if he felt something! Instead he'll clam up and die alone! Is that what you want? For our Master to die alone? Cold, shriveled and unloved? No longer able to practice Kung Fu… Confined to his room due to old injuries that lead to a tragic downward spiral of aging… Unable even to lift a glass of water to his dry, parched-

"Okay, okay, we get the point," Crane interjected, no longer wanting to hear Po's spiel.

"So you'll help?"

"I don't know Po," Viper said gently. "What if Shifu realizes what we're doing? Don't you think he'd be upset, or maybe even embarrassed?"

"I know… But if it succeeds: GREAT! Fails: At least we tried, and now we know that either it wasn't meant to be or we just suck as match makers."

"Well…"

"Come on guys, who with me? We'll vote! All in favor of trying to pair them up, say Aye! Aye!"

No one else spoke at first. Then Monkey said Aye. Mantis shrugged and did the same and Crane mumbled his agreement. Viper thought it over before giving in as well, smiling at the thought that she might be able to make her Master happy, as was her nature.

"Awesome! So that's five against one, majority rules, and we are good to go!"

"Oh no you're not! It might be five against one, but that one is me!"

"Tigress, my fine feline friend, you present a very good point."

"You bet I do."

Po sighed loudly and said, almost whined, "Come on Tigress! Don't you want to make Shifu happy?"

How dare he ask such a question? Of course she wanted him to be happy. That was all she had ever wanted; to make him happy and proud of her. But she hardly saw how simply getting him a girlfriend would help the matter… Rolling it over in her mind she recalled Taia jumping off a cliff to save Shifu, and later sitting by his bedside until she was physically incapable of staying awake. Loyal aspects, and to Tigress loyalty was something to be valued. Not to mention she'd never seen Shifu act so trusting, yet so distant with anyone… Anyone except herself…

"Alright," she huffed. "I will help with your psychotic plan."

"But," she announced before Po had time to jump for joy. "I'm laying down rules: Rule 1, we don't focus on this every minute of every day, and especially not during training hours. Rule 2, we don't do anything stupid like use a love potion or something. Okay, that's just messed up! And Rule 3: Shifu CANNOT find out about this!"

"Shifu can't find out about what?"

At the stern words the six of them jumped a few feet in the air and turned to where there Master was standing, and looking at them quite irritably. "Would someone care to explain," he spoke in what a normal person would have thought was a calm voice, "what my flute was doing outside, in the yard, in the dirt?"

At the stern words the six of them jumped a few feet in the air and turned to where there Master was standing, and looking at them quite irritably. "Would someone care to explain," he spoke in what a normal person would have thought was a calm voice, "what my flute was doing outside, in the yard, in the dirt?"

Po, Tigress, and Mantis breathed a sigh of relief knowing that since they had only just gotten home it couldn't have been pinned on them. Crane didn't know anything and neither did Viper. Monkey on the other hand…

"Oh, uh, sorry Master… I couldn't find my Bo staff yesterday, so I, kind of, well, borrowed your flute to use for practice…"

"And you left it in the yard?"

"Yes…"

"Over night, I'm assuming?"

"Yes…" Monkey swallowed, trying to hide how scared he was. As Shifu's eyes glared until they were only furious slits, Monkey thought about running.

"Mr. Sifu?"

Shifu's ears twitched at the sound of his name and title being mispronounced, and he searched visually for the source. Looking down he saw Hope staring up at him.

"Mommy said, that if I asked real, real, nice, that maybe we could please play checkers?"

His eyebrows rose slightly. "Checkers?"

"Uh huh! She took Li and Benji to go looking at the fighty building but I don't want to, so can we please play, please?"

"The fighty building? Oh, yes, the Training Hall. Tell you what, why don't you play with Po, hm? I can't right now because I need to beat the monkey business out of a monkey."

"Okay. But we can play later right?"

"Of course, little one. Now then, you three," he said, turning to look at Tigress, Po, and Mantis. "You are allowed the rest of the day off after everything that has happened. And you two," he pointed to Viper and Crane, "I hear have been working hard to protect the Valley and for that you may have a day of rest as well. Monkey, you may follow me."

Monkey gulped and followed his Master, looking much like he was on his way to the chopping block. Not far off, actually…

Hope's ears drooped as she watched Shifu leave. She'd never really had a male figure in her life so she had taken to latching on to various men that happened to come along. Shifu was the only one so far that had stuck around for more than a day, and the fact that he was, from what she could tell, friends with her mother, made the feeling even stronger. So watching him walk away was hard.

But only for a second or two, of course. She now demanded that Po play checkers with her, and the panda grinned, happy to do so.

...

"Well shorties, what do you think of the joint?"

"This place is awesome Mom!"

"Yeah, wait until we get to tell all the other kids that we live at the JadePalace!"

The kids high fived at the prospect of showing off. They both knew right away, that this was going to be awesome.