Kung Fu singing part 2

[Var† 0]

The next day found a bunch of snow-trekking Kung Fu masters cutting wood. Axes and hammers weren’t necessary, all the masters found a way of cutting the timbers to pieces, then carry them promptly back to Jade Palace.

Tigress held a smirk on her lips as the day continued by, only disturbed by her breaking of the timbers. At one point, Po whirled around upon hearing humming. “Hmm?” Po asked himself.

It appeared to be coming from Tigress, who was just bringing wood back to the Jade Palace. Po quickly split his logs, gathered them up, and ran to catch up with Tigress. He tripped, falling as the wood fell from his hands and met his face plant, but Po quickly gathered it up again and soon came alongside Tigress.

“Was that you humming Tigress?”

Tigress looked a little uneasy at that moment, looking at Po. She finally looked back forwards and said “it was.”

“What were you humming?” Po asked.

Tigress stopped, looking down. “I don’t remember. It was just something I heard in the orphanage I grew up in.”

“Wait, wait,” Po said, standing in front of her, looking concerned, “you were raised in an orphanage?”

Tigress looked up than nodded. “Master Shifu took me in.”

Po looked amazed. Now all that had happened made sense. All that Tigress had told him about Ti Lang made sense to him. No wonder Tigress was so angry when he first arrived. Especially after becoming the Dragon Warrior in her place. Imagine how she must have felt always trying to please Shifu, after Tigress had told him he never loved anyone like Ti Lang.

“Um,” Po said, not sure what to address first, Tigress’ past or the fact that she now cultivated humming.

“I’m sorry,” Tigress said, walking again. “I’m foolish to think of anything other than our work here.”

“No no, wait,” Po said, catching up with her, “it’s not that. I’m just amazed that your singing; well, somewhat!”

Tigress gave a lopsided smirk, then chuckled. “I’m glad.” With that, the two continued to the Jade Palace than back to their work. Po couldn’t help but feel glad for Tigress. It was good to see his favorite of the Five was happy. It made her seem a lot more approachable.

Lunch break came around, and the group broke to eat. Po made more of his amazing soup, but decided to splash some hot sauce in it. “Here you go guys, with a little something I thought would help warm you up.”

Tigress grinned at Po before she tried it, eager to see what Po had done to the soup. Po drank his and was content with the sting it gave his stomach. It felt better than being frozen. He noticed Mantis, who was standing on the table beside him, looked like he was excessively drooling.

“Hey Mantis, you ok?” Po asked.

Mantis looked at Po wordlessly and nodded. He hopped down from the table and walked outside, whereupon he was gone for a few moments. Monkey coughed, leaving as well for some reason, only to come back a few minutes earlier wiping his mouth as well. Viper looked like she took the soup a bit harsh, and Crane noticed. He quickly ushered Viper outside and the two didn’t return. Po was a little confused by now as to what was going on, when he saw Tigress smiling up at him. She had some drool dripping down her face, which she wiped away with a paw.

Po didn’t know what to say, then it suddenly hit him. He smacked his forehead with his hand. No one liked the hotness of the soup. Tigress chuckled to herself, quietly excusing herself. She exited the kitchen too, Po watching her leave. Po got up and walked to the door, peering outside. Everyone was eating the snow that had just fallen in the courtyard. Po hit his head against the door. Oh man.

Everyone was being so polite to him, the whole reason for their absence was foreign to Po. Tigress came back in, clearing her throat and composing herself. She opened her mouth and tried to say something, but a rasp was all that came out. Tigress covered her mouth, looking embarrassed, then tried again. No effect. Po looked saddened at the failure of making his soup tolerable. Tigress had a silent laugh and hugged Po for assurance around the neck, then left for her dorm chuckling to herself, a raspy, throaty chuckle.

Master Shifu unofficially let everyone free that afternoon and evening. Not only was there enough wood to heat the Jade Palace until tomorrow, but, he noted to Po with a cold stare, his food took a drastic toll on the other Masters.

Po immediately went to throw out the sauce, angry as the rest of the masters ambled about, most of them, like Viper, retiring to sleep off the pain. Tigress, who Po thought was one of the masters resting, tapped Po on the shoulder, then whispered, “maybe don’t add so much next time.” Po glared, then looked back at the hot sauce, placing it down forcefully on the counter.

“Po,” Tigress said, her voice beginning to come back, but Po interrupted, “shouldn’t you go rest or something? Didn’t my soup, like burn out your intestines too?”

Tigress shook her head, refusing to buckle under Po’s negative attitude. She massaged her throat and coughed, preparing herself for a lengthy sentence. “I got my shirt stained, I went to my room to change into another one.”

Po didn’t even realize the colors Tigress was wearing. Her shirt was steely white with blue trim. It looked very nice, actually. “Oh,” Po said, not sure what to say. Tigress smiled.

“Viper, *cough*, isn’t used to that kind of food. She’s a snake, remember.” Po felt he was being criticized for not comprehending Viper’s physiology, but Tigress chuckled, a less-throaty cough this time. “It’s alright Po.”

Po didn’t believe her. Even if everyone, even poor Viper, told him everything was ok and no harm was done, none of it would affect him. HE still didn’t think it was a success by any stretch. Plus, Monkey was walking funny now, having his bowels burst into flame about an hour ago.

Po set his ladle down and sighed. “I don’t know why I just mess up all the time. Sure, I do something cool like defeat Tai Lang and save the Valley, and defeat Lord Shen, but when it comes to doing something simple like this, I can’t even do THAT right! I just,” Po stopped, looking at Tigress, who had a smile on her face. Po sighed, noting he was really the only one angry about this whole issue, then finished lamely, “want to be like one of you guys.”

Tigress suddenly changed expressions. She looked sad. Not sad for herself, but for Po. Tigress coughed, then said “Po, I *cough*, we, all know your one of us. You’re the Dragon Warrior.”

“Yeah,” Po said unconvincingly, “who can save all of China but can’t even save his fellow Masters from food poisoning.”

Tigress knew Po was exaggerating. So she couldn’t help but laugh. It sounded raspy still, but she pushed past the strain on her throat then coughed and regained composure. “Po-” again, before she was thinking, said, “you mean a lot to us here. We love you, in a sense.” Po seemed to understand that, looking a little less down.

Tigress felt her heart hammer in her chest as she got closer to him, putting a hand on his arm. “I-I, *cough* I love you.” She looked down and then quickly added, “in my own way.”

Po looked shocked. “What? No way!” Tigress looked up at him, looking almost ashamed.

“*cough* Po, I didn’t like you at first, but once you proved yourself to be far more capable than I figured you’d be, I realized I was wrong. Over these past couple months,” Tigress said, walking from Po and around the kitchen, “I really started to *cough* understand I,” she smiled at Po, “liked you. I enjoy your company and like being your friend.”

Tigress returned to the dumbstruck panda, who first looked shocked, but then started to smile. He took it well. Tigress smiled in response. Po didn’t know what to say.

“I haven’t seen you change at all,” Tigress said, chuckling, “since you first came here. Your determination and will have been untouched from the first day. I just want you to know how much you’ve changed US.” Tigress coughed for a moment upon emphasizing ‘us’, but soon regained composure.

“I’ve felt that I can be more relaxed,” Po nodded, understanding, “as of late. That’s why I enjoyed our dance so much. I’ve been depraved of much most of my life, and you bring me what I lost.”

Tigress felt a wave of relief flood her body upon releasing those words. She really felt Po was giving her what she’d always wanted, but never had. Tigress looked shy for a moment, then said, “speaking of which, I was wondering if you could teach me to sing.”

Po’s mouth hit the floor, as did the ladle in his hand. Tigress licked her lips, a little worried that she may have asked too much, but then looked confident, like when she had to fight a whole legion of demons. “I want to learn to sing.” Tigress said, her voice practically normal now, sounding very straight forwards with her request.

“Um,” Po said, scratching his head, “maybe we should get some help….”