Chapter Text
The furious five, along with the Dragon Warrior, were gathered in the training hall. They all jumped when Master Shifu banged open the doors. For some reason, he looked angrier than his usual self. Everyone gulped. Today was going to be a harsh training day.
A few minutes later, everyone was assigned their tasks, except for Po and Tigress. When everyone left to do their respective tasks, Shifu turned towards them.
"Po, Tigress," Shifu said, shifting his gaze from Po to Tigress, "You have deeply disappointed me." He said, clenching his staff and gritting his teeth.
Po looked at Tigress with pure horror on his face. She too had the same expression. Did he figure out their secret? Did he know about their relationship?
The next moment, they were standing at the top of the thousand stairs. Both of them turned towards Shifu, only to see his furious face.
"You are no longer kung fu masters and therefore not welcome in the palace," Shifu said monotonously.
"But Master-" Tigress began.
"SILENCE!" Shifu’s voice echoed throughout the palace grounds.
Po felt his legs turning to jelly with the fur on his body standing on end.
"Begone," Shifu said in a low, threatening tone, dismissing them with a paw.
With somber expressions, both former kung fu masters turned to leave. Just then, Po felt a kick to his butt, and the next thing he knew, he was tumbling down the stairs.
Po startled awake, immediately sitting up. But he was only able to get up halfway as there was something heavy on his chest.
Looking to his right, he spotted Tigress’s striped face. She had one arm over his chest with her head, now partially on his chest. Even in her sleep, she had an iron grip, or she would have fallen on the bed.
Since their relationship was secret, they never took the risk of sleeping with each other. This was the first time and Tigress had come into his room very late at night. She would be going back to her home at the break of dawn.
"Mhmm. What is it?" Tigress murmured groggily, her eyes still closed.
"Nothing. Sorry." Po whispered, lying down again. Placing a kiss on her striped eyebrow, he tried to get back to sleep.
Po tried to convince himself that it was just a dream. Shifu didn’t know anything. Nothing to worry about. Right?
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It had been a few days since the day Tigress had lied to Shifu. Though he knew it was insignificant and tried to think nothing of it, a small voice at the back of his mind was telling him otherwise. Therefore, Shifu had been keeping a close eye on both of them.
Because of these suspicions, he wasn’t able to meditate peacefully. No matter how hard he tried, his thoughts would always float back to that day. That conversation, Tigress’s odd behavior (though he hadn’t quite placed what seemed odd... yet).
She had been too stiff. No, she was always like that. Her vest looked slightly crumpled. When he had seen it earlier, in the arena, it wasn’t like that. But why would that matter? Shifu’s eyes opened mid-meditation. Of course, it would matter because not only was it slightly crumpled, it wasn’t tucked in! Shifu felt disgusted with himself to have noticed it, but it mattered because Tigress was so disciplined, she never appeared unkempt. That was it! That’s what was odd about her.
Now if only he could figure out why. Why was her vest not tucked in? Maybe she had wanted to feel comfortable? No, that didn’t seem right. Had she removed the vest? Shifu’s brows furrowed. Why would she-? Shifu fell off the staff he was meditating on as something dawned upon him. Now that he thought about it, she did appear slightly flustered. Was something going on between-?
Shifu shook his head, not wanting to complete the thought. After all, he could be, no, he was overthinking things. They were just really good friends…right?
For the next few days, Shifu purposely paired Po and Tigress with each other, whether it was for training or any tasks outside the palace. And as discreetly as he could, he observed them. He even asked Mr. Ping if something was going on between the two, but he denied it.
When he came up with absolutely nothing, Shifu rejected his theory of them being together. He was just imagining things.
"Guys, where is Tigress?" Po asked his friends one day after they had finished training.
Everyone shook their heads, except Viper.
"I think she said something about meditating under the peach tree."
"Thanks." And he was gone. This exchange, however, didn’t go unnoticed by Shifu. A few minutes later, he slowly left to follow Po.
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"There you are," Po said, sitting down next to Tigress. Bringing two claws under her chin, he lightly scratched it. Tigress responded by leaning into his paw and nuzzling it. They didn’t greet each other with kisses; rather, Po would scratch her chin or behind her ear and she would respond by nuzzling his paw.
"You think Master Shifu knows?" Po asked, breaking the silence.
"About us? I don’t think so. I am sure we would be able to notice it." Tigress snickered as an image of a furious Shifu grinding his teeth formed in her head.
"Why is it funny to you? He could strip us of our title as kung fu masters and kick us down the stairs. He might even exile us from the palace." Po said in a rushed, panicked voice.
Po was surprised when he heard snickering. He turned to his right to find Tigress with a paw on her mouth, controlling her laughter. She couldn’t control it and ended up laughing. Though plausible, his worries were ridiculous. Po did not join her nor did he admire her laughter. Instead, he just looked at her, bewildered.
Noticing Po’s confused expression, Tigress cleared her throat and straightened herself, though she still had an amused smile.
"Relax. None of that is going to happen." She said, punching him on the arm.
"Ok maybe not." Po relaxed a little, shifting his gaze to the view below. "But don’t you think he is suspicious? Haven't you noticed he has been pairing us for literally everything? Maybe he is waiting for us to slip." The worry reappeared on his face.
"I have noticed. Maybe it’s just because we are compatible." Tigress shrugged. When she looked at him, he had disbelief written all over his face.
"What?"
"Since when did you become so laid back and relaxed?"
With a gentle smile, she placed her palm on the ground between them and leaned forward.
"I guess you rubbed off on me," Tigress whispered, staring into his eyes. She leaned further, attempting to close the gap between their lips. When Po placed a paw on her shoulder and leaned back, Tigress gave him a confused look.
"You do realize we are out in the open," Po whispered, his voice full of worry.
Tigress rolled her eyes. "If anyone was testing out their stealth mode here, trust me, I would have noticed."
She was right. Nothing got past her. Now that he was assured, he brought a paw under her chin, sliding the other down her arm and resting it on the paw that was in the space between them.
Both of them closed their eyes and closed the gap between them. It had been days since their last kiss (and no, they had not kissed last night or this morning).
When Po attempted to break the kiss, Tigress moaned and wrapped an arm around his neck, refusing to let go. He complied, as he had been longing for this too. Moments like these were rare, so they cherished them. When both ran out of breath, they broke apart and rested their foreheads against each other.
"I love you," Tigress whispered lightly, so lightly that Po thought he had misheard it. It was a secret, not audible even to the wind. A secret not to be heard by anyone but him. Not only was he overjoyed but also shocked because this was the first time she had said it. Po had never imagined in his wildest dreams that she would say it.
"I love you too." Po gazed into her fiery eyes and whispered just as lightly as she had.
Unknown to either of them, Shifu had been watching them from behind a bush beside the stairs. Shifu was frozen in shock and anger. How could they shamelessly kiss right below the sacred tree? His mouth hung open while his eyes and ears constantly twitched. So they were indeed together. Now it was pretty clear what they had been doing the other day.
Regaining his composure, Shifu decided he had seen enough. He turned around and quietly left.
"We should get going. We don’t want anyone to come looking for us." Tigress said, getting up. She took a look around, just to be safe.
"Right." Po followed her to the stairs leading down.
At the top of the stairs, Tigress stopped and turned around.
"Oh and don’t worry, no one knows anything. Worrying doesn’t suit you." She walked towards the stairs, but not before sliding the tip of her tail down his arm. Po attempted to grab it, but she moved it out of his grasp at the last moment.
Po growled, to which Tigress smirked over her shoulder before descending the stairs.
~The next day~
While everyone was training, Shifu held back Po and Tigress. He brought them out to the stairs leading down to the valley.
"You two have to climb the thousand stairs five times," Shifu said coolly.
"But why?" Po asked.
"So that you two will think twice the next time you decide to have "fun" in the barracks. Good luck climbing the stairs." Shifu said nonchalantly and turned around to leave them. He stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder.
"Oh, and Tigress, keep in mind that I am your master. I am the one who taught you stealth mode."
With that, Shifu left the two with their jaws unhinged.
"I told you so!" Po shouted, pointing at the gaping feline.