Naidvar's TiPo Oneshot Collection!

Not Our Fault

Agh! I just don't understand..." Tigress lightly banged her paws against the oak frame surrounding her open window. Her shutters blew thanks to the nightly breeze as her orange orbs shone like the sun in contrast to the cold blue moonlight presently bathing her. "What did I do wrong? Why couldn't I stop him yet... I can't even call him lousy- some panda managed to stand in his way!" Tigress slumped over, being sure to point her muzzle outside so no one could hear her 'silent' mental breakdown. "I'm a disciplined warrior trained under Master Shifu- yet I disappear for a week, get pummeled by Tai Lung and come back to him suddenly being able to challenge me in sparring matches? What am I missing? Was I just- never destined to be the Dragon Warrior?" Tigress assumed her whispers of distress weren't slipping into open ears.

However, laying down restlessly for the third night on the trot was Po. Despite being quite boastful about his victory during the day and rightfully so, during the night, he realised how much his victory may have rearranged the future for one of his idols. The thought of Tigress, a childhood idol of his, resenting him for something he personally didn't want himself was a stomach-churning feeling.

Po had heard it all during these past few nights. Tigress breaking her usual stoic as well as calculated persona to whimper and lick the wounds of her uncertain future, her getting angry and silently producing wooden splinters in a corner of her room to what was happening tonight... Merely her pondering what she could've done right, if she could have done anything different to change the outcome of this situation.

The Dragon Warrior quite honestly had thoughts late at night but wasn't awfully vocal about them. He would mostly allow his mind to wander whilst accompanied by the shimmering flame of one of his sandalwood-scented bamboo candles instead of acting out everything like Tigress did. The pudgy panda was more intrigued by the fact this was the way the striped feline managed to cope with her anger.

In a way, it seemed to make her more lifelike, that even the most badass of people sometimes have their low points. It was a double-edged sword for the Dragon Warrior as he felt like he was somehow at fault for Tigress' mood, yet the late and great Master Oogway was the one to point his claw at Po instead of Master Tigress.

A coincidence one still couldn't explain. Whilst Tigress was pondering what remained of her future, Master Shifu was looking up to the heavens above for an answer regarding the appearance of this panda in such a chaotic and untimely fashion. Despite him never treating Tigress the way a loving father should have at the time, he still felt relatively guilty for building her up to be a warrior only to have some fat panda usurp the role from his daughter.

Yet, when Master Shifu looked up to the stars above whilst sitting in front of Master Oogway's Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom... He always felt a wave of acceptance wash over him. Acceptance that Tai Lung was now vanquished and banished to the Spirit Realm, acceptance that his own daughter may not have been fated to be the Dragon Warrior. Most importantly, he accepted the fact that he had undermined the panda when Po possessed a weapon that wielded an unrivalled amount of potential. That weapon... Was passion.

Master Shifu had seen it every time he made a meal inside of the Jade Palace kitchen, the amount of joy Po was unable to contain and let loose whenever cooking something as simplistic as noodle soup inspired the ageing master of kung-fu. He had never had a student so open-minded, respectful, humble yet passionate all at the same time. There was always a gripe with every student. Minus Po's hygiene and mild clumsiness, there wasn't any negative point to be made against Po's position as the Dragon Warrior.

Tigress, on the other hand, felt herself becoming increasingly intimidated by Po despite the fact he understood what she was going through. It was that mere understanding of her struggle, even through complete and utter silence from her part, that allured her. Each time she would have these thoughts about the Dragon Warrior, she would eventually find peace in imagining herself beating him to a pulp...