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Crane perched atop a tree overlooking the Valley of Peace. He smiled thinking back to the day that he first met Viper. She did her best to make him feel at home and he would be forever grateful to her for all the kindness she had showed him. He lowered his head looking at the ground below the tree. He thought that he had sensed movement for a moment, but a light breeze sighed through the trees making the branches of the trees rustle around him. Slowly, he let his guard down. He looked up at the stars and thought of Mei Ling. The day that she had come to the Jade Palace to complete her training after her master had died. Crane had tried to make her feel as welcome as Viper had made him feel all those years ago. He didn't know what a mistake that would turn out to be. Mei Ling caught him the same night outside the palace walls staring up at the stars he had been waiting for Viper. Mei Ling came closer and stood next to him she had asked what he was doing. He told her that he was star gazing and had pointed out a few constellations that he knew to her, but also explained that the stars and the night air helped calm his mind. When he had turned back to her she reached out and pulled him against her kissing him on the tip of his beak and working her kisses upwards until she kissed him between the eyes. When she finally released him he looked at her in what must have been obvious confusion because she had giggled at him. "I have been wanting to do that since the day we met," She had said to him. She nuzzled under his wing and purred as she rubbed her head against his chest. Crane had been speechless. He didn't know what to say, and just like that she had ran back up the steps. He stood watching even after she slipped through the gate.

Shaking his head slightly to clear out the ghosts from the past before he took flight back to the palace. He had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed 3 pairs of eyes watching from the trees around him. The felines stood up on the branches after he left and nodded to one another. With only a slight whooshing sound of splitting air they dropped through the trees and out of sight.

Viper sat curled in Crane's room she hadn't been meaning to snoop, but her curiosity had gotten the best of her. She had been reading the scrolls he had been writing. Some were poetry, others were notes on combat, and others had recipes that she suspected Po had given him since everything appeared to have noodles as the main ingredient. She uncurled herself and was about to leave when a slip of paper caught her eye. She turned and pulled it from under a blanket that lay folded atop it. Gasping in shock she dropped it to the floor. Her eyes quickly turning from sadness to outrage as she stared at the paper as if it were something vile that had just struck her. She fled Crane's room as quickly as she could slither without bothering to shut the door. Po watched Viper leave Crane's room and walked in to the hall to close the door. Just then the paper blown by the wind tumbled out in to the hall. Po stooped down to pick it up. He started to walk in to Crane's room to put the paper back inside, but then Po happened to look down at it. He stared wide-eyed for a moment then began to giggle. It was a funny anime-ish drawing of Mei Ling kissing Crane. Po was still giggling when Crane walked up behind him. "Po?" Crane said. Po turned to him tears in his eyes from laughing. "Po... What...?!" "It blew out of your room when Viper left," Po told him as Crane viciously snatched the paper out of Po's paw. "Viper saw this?" Crane asked clearly embarrassed and agitated by the situation. "I think so," Po said. "She zoomed out and I didn't even get a hello from her. It's like she didn't see me." "I see," Crane said quietly tucking the drawing in to a pouch at his hip. "Excuse me, Po. I have to find her to explain." "Explain what?" Po asked. "I like the picture. It's funny." "Yes, well," Crane cleared his throat. "I still have to find her."

Viper sat at the bottom step of the Jade palace looking at the ground. She had been angry when she had seen the drawing, but with the time it took her to slither down she had time to think. She curled in a coil at the bottom of the step feeling sad and wondering what the drawing meant. Did Crane draw it or did someone else draw it for him. Did Mei Ling draw it for him? Did Po? She was about to turn to go start back up the steps of the palace when something sped past her vision. She turned to look and spotted another shadow race past a grove of bamboo. She took up a defensive stance and waited. Nothing moved. Not even a shadow flickered. The wind even seemed to be holding its breath with her. She coiled motionless for what seemed like hours to her, but nothing else moved. Slowly, she uncoiled to start back up the steps. She turned her head to look behind her for a moment but everything was dark and silent. She dismissed what she had seen for a wild animal.

When she turned back to the steps she froze. Standing in front of her on three different steps were shadows with eyes glowing out of them. She looked up at the eyes and at that moment the moon shone down through the trees revealing three feline forms. The closest one crouched down in front of her with a slow grace that was hypnotic. "Where is our sister?" It hissed at her as she stared in to a face that looked much like Mei Ling's. "Sister?" Viper asked. "Do not play stupid with us! She's here!" The one on the furthest step shouted. The one in front of Viper put up a paw to silence the other. "Yes, our sister," The feline in front of Viper said with a calm coolness that sent a cold chill racing through Viper's body. "I don't know your sister," Viper said nervously. "I don't know any other felines other then Tigress and Mei Ling." "She's here!" The one from the second step shouted in triumph. The first nodded her head ever so slightly. "Thank you for your information," The feline said to Viper, but before Viper could ask any questions or say anything she felt herself being thrown through the air. Blackness enveloped her and she welcomed it as it came to take her away from the three strange feline women.

Crane who had been flying above the palace looking for Viper had watched the entire scene from above. When he perched atop a tree he had pushed the branches enough so that sunlight had illuminated the three forms standing in front of Viper. He watched waiting to see what would happen more than sure that Viper could hold her own against these three frail looking figures. But after the one closest to Viper had nodded the figure had hit Viper with such ferocity that it caused Viper to go flying off of the steps and head first in to the trunk of a tree. The three had vanished as quickly as they had appeared. In a rage Crane flew down as quickly as he could to find Viper.

He found her lying on the ground with her eyes closed. She had blood trickling out of the top of her head and out of the corners of her mouth. Gasping Crane reached down to lift her head. Her entire body was cold and limp. With no effort at all Crane hauled her long body upon his back and cradling her head in one of his talon-ed feet he flew straight up and then towards the Jade Palace. Master Shifu would know what to do. As he flew as quickly as he dared carrying his precious cargo as he silently blamed himself. This would never have happened if he had just remained in his room.

"Are you ready Master Tigress?" Kataki taunted as he walked slow circles around Tigress lunging at her and then taking a step back. "You do not appear ready yourself with the way you seem so unsure of yourself," Tigress quipped at him. "Unsure?" Kataki chuckled softly. "This is how you test your enemies' defenses. Or did your master never teach you that?" Tigress blushed slightly. She kept her guard up and watched Kataki circling her. After every four steps or so he would lunge at her. She would take the next opening to attack. One... Two... Three... FOUR! Tigress lunged at Kataki with a punch that landed on... Nothing. Kataki laughed from behind her as she felt a sharp pain between her shoulder blades. "I seen you counting," Kataki laughed at her confusion. "You really think anyone would be that predictable?"

Tigress growled and sucked her breath in trying to mask her embarrassment for being over eager to try to end this quickly. "What do you have against Po?" She asked as she two began to circle Kataki. "Ah, yes," Kataki grinned at her. "The dragon warrior. Why are you so concerned? What is he to you?" "He is my friend," Tigress said with a light growl. "Friend? Or is he more than that to you?" Kataki growled and lunged forward. He caught Tigress by the wrist as she punched at him. She punched at him with her other fist which was just as easily caught. Kataki pushed her against the wall with her wrists pinned above her head. He leaned his muzzle close to her face and smiled. "What are you insinuating?" Tigress growled at him as she tried to kick him in the groin but Kataki pushed his body against hers making kicking impossible. "What I'm asking is..." Kataki laughed. "Is that PANDA your mate?"

Tigress's look of anger went from shock to amusement in only a second. "Po?!" She laughed now. "My boyfriend?" It was Kataki's turn to look shocked now. He had expected to have hit a nerve, but hadn't expected her to laugh. His grip loosened around her wrists as confusion took over. Tigress was still laughing as if someone had told her the world's funniest joke. "Then?" Kataki started as he tightened his grip once more as his senses returned. "He's not. Even though he's the Dragon Warrior I am still the leader and I take my role very seriously." Tigress explained to him as she got control of herself, but she still had a vague smile on her muzzle. "He isn't a skilled Master. I believe he only got lucky in destroying Tai Lung. He is always late for practice and he is always eating. He never takes training seriously. He's an utter disgrace." Tigress's eyes turned dark as she spoke to Kataki about Po. "He makes jokes, and seems to think everyone should be laughing, eating, and having a good time instead of training. We have a duty to the people of the Valley of Peace to protect them! Not to amuse them with jokes and idiotic dancing."

Kataki chuckled lightly as he pressed his nose against Tigress's own. "I could make him go away," Kataki whispered throatily. "I could take him off your paws for good. He would never again ruin a practice and then you would be the new dragon warrior. Don't you think you should have been the Dragon Warrior?" "Y.. I... Master Oogway... He was pointing to me. That fat panda fell from the sky and that drunken turtle said he was pointing at Po!" Tigress vented her eyes sparking with a hateful fire. "He was always drunk. He probably couldn't even tell it was a panda he was pointing at!" "Master Oogway was a fool," Kataki whispered with his nose still pressed against Tigress's own. "He was old and senile! You should have been the Dragon Warrior! I can make that happen." "H... How?" Tigress asked her red eyes transfixed on Kataki's own red/yellow eyes. "Kill him, of course," Kataki said in a matter of fact tone. "Kill him?!" Tigress shouted the spell broken. "What did you think I was going to do?!" Kataki growled at her pushing his nose hard against her own angling his head until their foreheads were touching. His whiskers flicking in agitation. "I... I..." Tigress mumbled. "Did you think I could just ask him to leave?" Kataki growled. "Do you think he would? I'm going to kill him like he killed m..." Kataki froze and pulled his head away from Tigress. "Killed who?" Tigress asked. "No one! Nothing!" Kataki growled again. "Who?" Tigress asked again in a more demanding tone. "Never mind!" Kataki roared as he dragged Tigress by the wrists. "Where are you taking me?!" Tigress demanded, but Kataki didn't answer her he continued pulling her by both wrists up the narrow passage. He pulled her outside. She blinked in the light of the rising sun. "Leave here!" Kataki hissed at her. "Leave here and never return!" "Who did Po kill?!" Tigress growled at him. "That's a serious offense if he's killed someone then he will be punished, but by us! Not by some wandering vagabond!" "Get out of here," Kataki growled again as he retreated in to the narrow passage pulling the vines closed behind him. "Do not return! I am giving you your life. I could have taken it from you, but I am feeling generous today. I may not be so generous next time." "What?" Tigress growled at the vines. "I... I'm coming back!" "Don't," Kataki's voice growled back. "That could prove to be a fatal mistake."

"Give her some time to rest," Master Shifu said as the small red panda sat next to the bed where Viper was lying. He ran one of his old paws over her head. "It was just a small bump and the wound on her head was nothing more than a scratch. Head wounds tend to bleed more than other wounds." "How long, Master?" Crane asked in concern as he stood next to Viper's bed. "She'll wake when she's ready," Master Shifu told him as he turned to walk out of the room. "Master?" Crane started. "Yes, Crane?" Master Shifu said turning back to Crane. "Thank you," Crane said with a small bow. Master Shifu smiled slightly at him as he left the room quietly shutting the door behind him.

Crane crouched next to Viper's bed. "I'm sorry, Viper," Crane said. "I should have told you about Mei Ling. But I never expected to see her again. And now she's here living under the same roof as me. I don't know how I feel about her." Crane sighed heavily and reached a wing out to brush back one of Viper's bows. "But I know I love you, Viper."

Mei Ling stood in the hall listening to Crane talking to Viper. She had heard that Crane had brought Viper back. At first she had thought they had gotten in to a fight with each other, but then listened to Crane explaining everything to Master Shifu. Smiling to herself mischievously she opened Viper's door and slipped silently inside. Crane was still crouching next to Viper's bed. Padding across the floor Mei Ling came up behind Crane and snaked an arm over his neck and the other under one of his wings pulling him backwards against her in a hug. "Wha?!" Crane exclaimed as he was pulled backwards against her. "Shh. Shh. Shh. Shh." Mei Ling shushed him. "You'll wake Viper." "Mei Ling! What are you doing?!" Crane exclaimed in as quiet of a whisper as he could manage. "Nothing," Mei Ling purred as she rubbed her head up and down his slender neck. "You can't keep doing this," Crane whispered at the same time he felt a tingling sensation racing down his spine. "Doing what?" Mei Ling asked innocently as she ran a paw up the back of his neck to the top of his head before racing back down again. "What you're doing right now," Crane hissed. "You can't keep ambushing me like this." "Shhhh," Mei Ling said as she snaked around Crane so that she was in front of him. She pulled him against her and kissed him between the eyes. Crane groaned lightly at the touch of her lips he felt a stirring in his loins as she pressed her hips against his own.

"CRANE?!" Viper's voice cut through the air like a knife immediately killing any stirrings he had been having. Crane bowled over Mei Ling knocking her to the floor in his headlong rush to Viper, but Viper was coiled up on her bed her tail twitching wildly. "Viper! Thank god you're okay," Crane said as he crouched next to her bed, but nothing could have prepared him for the slap across the face that came from Viper's wildly twitching tail. Crane reeled backwards as if he had been hit by a truck. "GET OUT!" Viper screamed. "BOTH OF YOU JUST GET OUT OF MY ROOM!!"

Mei Ling had already ran out the door after Crane had been slapped across the face, but stood in the hallway waiting for him. Crane closed the door to Viper's room. When he heard her crying from within he was tempted to go back inside, but Mei Ling grabbed him from behind once again. "Stop it!" Crane told her as he pulled her arms from around himself and forced them to her sides. "Crane?" Mei Ling started but Crane held up his wing to cut her off. "Listen, I like you. As a friend, but you can't keep throwing yourself at me like some harlot!" Crane had only just got out the word harlot before a loud clap rang through the hall and he felt himself being jarred backwards once more. He crashed through the rice paper wall of Mantis's room. "Crane?" Mantis said jumping on his chest and looking down at him. "You okay?" "Ye..." Crane started but Mei Ling loomed over him a look of disgust and disappointment on her face. "Harlot?! I try to give you love and you call me a harlot! GO TO HELL, CRANE!!" Mei Ling shrieked at him before running away down the hall. "Harlot?" Monkey asked looking in to the room at Crane who was still lying on the floor with his Kung Fu brother standing on his chest. "What's going on here, Crane?" Mantis asked. "Yeah, what is going on here?" Monkey asked. "And don't leave out any of the dirty little details," Mantis interjected. "There's nothing to tell," Crane said sitting up. Mantis jumped off him and on to Monkey's shoulder. "Spill it," Monkey said. "We heard Viper yelling, and then Mei Ling yells at you and you say it's nothing?" "It is nothing," Crane said. "Nothing?" Mantis asked. "Two women hit you and you say it's nothing?" "How did you know that they..." Crane started but Monkey was pointing to Crane's face. "You've got two swollen cheeks, and I'm not talking about your butt," Monkey laughed. Crane reached a wing up and gingerly touched first one cheek and then the other wincing as he did. "Well, Mei Ling..." Crane sighed. "We used to be very good friends when we were both younger. We did everything together. But then one day she had to leave to start training somewhere. We made a pact that when we both were old enough we'd be married." "MARRIED?!" Mantis and Monkey both exclaimed and Monkey slid around behind Crane to put an arm around his shoulder. Mantis jumped to perch on his head and look in to his eyes upside down. "You let them tie you down, but you don't let them tie you down with marriage," Mantis said. "Mantis is right," Monkey said. "We're all studs. Master's of Kung Fu. We can have any women we want!" "Have you ever had any women?" Crane asked. Mantis jumped back on to Monkey's shoulder. "Crane, that isn't the point. Women throw themselves at us, and it's all because we're studs in the prime of our lives. You get tied down and all those women are just going to be wasted! Especially, if Monkey gets to them first!" Mantis said with Monkey grinning and nodding. "What you need, my brother is a boy's night out!" Monkey said. "We'll go in to town and have a few drinks. Just the three of us! No women!" "But I really should go calm Viper..." Crane started but Monkey grabbed his beak in his hand as forced him to stop talking. "Start thinking with your loins and not with your brain!" Mantis told him. Without taking his hand off Crane's beak Monkey started walking leading the captive Crane behind him. Mantis turned around to face Crane. "This is gonna be great!" "Yeah," Monkey laughed. "We're gonna show you how to loosen up!" 'I've got a bad feeling about this,' Crane thought hopelessly to himself as he was dragged from the Jade Palace.

Tigress was coming up the steps of the Jade Palace, and heard the scuffling and arguing of the three. Not wanting to talk to anyone since she was still angry with herself for not having defeated Kataki or finding out who Po had murdered she lunged in to some shrubbery on the side of the steps. "Crane, you're going to love the place we go," Mantis was saying to Crane who Monkey still had seized by his long beak. Crane was trying in vain to protest but nothing was coming out but "buf id hab te cee ird vrprs sariet." "Forget about it, Crane," Monkey told him. "You're coming with us because you seriously need to relax." "Yeah, and we know all about relaxing," Mantis said as he laid sideways on Monkey's shoulder and watched the helpless Crane being led by Monkey. Crane's eyes flicked sideways and he spotted Tigress watching them. She caught his eyes and put her finger to her lips in a shushing motion. "Vrpr! Vrpr! Igrss cee Vrpr!" Crane cried out as loudly as he could, before Monkey clenched his paw tighter around Crane's beak. "That's enough, Crane." Monkey said as he picked Crane up and Mantis jumped on Crane's beak holding it closed as they ran off in to the night. "VRPR!" Came Crane's last echoing cry as they faded from sight moving faster now that Monkey was carrying Crane and running as fast as his legs would carry him.

Tigress lunged out of the bushes and back on to the steps. 'What was that about?' She wondered as she ran up the palace steps. She opened the doors to the dormitory and crept inside closing it silently behind her. Turning around she spotted Viper and Mei Ling shooting daggers from their eyes at each other from the entrances of their rooms. They didn't look towards Tigress but at the same moment they both turned their backs to one another and violently yanked their doors closed. 'What is going on tonight?!' Tigress thought to herself, but her curiosity would have to wait until morning, because after she was alone in the hall she realized how tired she was. Walking to her room she peeled off her clothes. Pushing them to the side next to the door she laid down on her rattan mat and instantly fell asleep as soon as she pulled her blanket over her naked body.

Later that night as Master Shifu was walking through the hall as he did every night to make sure his students were safe. As he passed by Tigress's room his nose perked up. He quietly opened Tigress's door and sniffed the air inside. 'A stranger...,' He thought to himself. 'And male... 'Shifu closed the door of her room and then walked out of the dormitory. Tigress had been around a strange male and the scent was foreign to Shifu but it was also oddly familiar. His mind was confused at the fact that Tigress hadn't told anyone about a stranger in the valley. Shifu chuckled and chided himself for being such an overprotective father. "She was probably just out helping some stranger in the valley," He reassured himself. "That's what it has to be. Tigress is always helping people. She's such a good girl."

Shifu walked to his small house set away from the dormitory next to a couple other small unoccupied houses. He walked in and shut the door convinced that Tigress had only been out helping strangers in the valley. He laughed lightly as he climbed in to his own bed. He couldn't believe he had thought Tigress had been out with some male. Not Tigress. He loved her like a daughter and the thought of her being around some strange male made his fatherly protectiveness leap forward to defend his little girl. He pushed off his misgivings as he slowly fell asleep.