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Grandmaster Shifu stared at the shattered blue and white ceramic on the floor on a puddle of now lukewarm tea. The teapot had been bought by Po from the Valley’s market, something to ‘add to the awesomeness of the Palace’ in the panda’s words. Po still seemed to fail to realise that when you live in the Jade Palace, you can’t have nice things. So when Shifu found the once beautiful teapot now shattered on the floor, he wasn’t even all that irritated. He just needed someone to own up, and they could put this all behind them.
“So,” Shifu murmured turning around, “Who broke it?”
The seven suspects standing before him all shifted uncomfortably. Monkey casually whistled as Li Shan cracked his knuckles. The tension was so thick you could cut it with the Sword of Heroes. Shifu saw that intimidation tactics weren’t going to work here.
The red panda raised his paws. “I’m not mad,” he reassured, “I just want to know.”
Viper’s tail flickered nervously. The poor snake could feel her heart beating a tattoo into her chest. If she wasn’t surrounded by three other kung fu masters and a top kung fu student, she would be far more relaxed. But in the situation they were in now, one wrong word could result in the bloodying of knuckles.
“I did,” Viper blurted out, “I broke it-”
“No, no you didn’t,” Shifu sighed with a rub of his temples. His eyes scanned the suspects before honing in on who he thought was the most likely culprit, “Monkey?”
The simian folded his arms, leaning against one of the pillars. “Don’t look at me,” he said casually, staring at his knuckles as if they were the most interesting thing in the world, “Look at Crane.”
“What?” Crane demanded indignantly, “I didn’t break it!”
“Huh. That’s weird. How did you even know it’s broken?”
Crane gaped at Monkey incredulously. “Because it’s sitting right in front of us and it’s broken???”
“Suspicious,” muttered Monkey.
“No it’s not,” Crane snapped, his very last nerve being held on by a thread.
Mantis cleared his throat, six heads turning to him. “If it matters, probably not,” the insect hesitated, “Mei Ling was the last one to use it.”
“Liar,” Mei barked, her paws curling up into tight fists, “I don’t even drink that crap!”
“Oh really,” Mantis retorted, squaring up, “Then what were you doing by the teapot earlier?”
Mei Ling slowly approached the insect, “I use the spoons to balance me when I’m meditating, everyone knows that Mantis,” she growled threateningly.
This is exactly what Viper was afraid of. She looked at the insect and the golden cat, both ready to pulverise each other. And there would be no doubt that Crane would join in on the action against Mantis for having the fervent audacity for falsely accusing his girlfriend.
Viper got in between Mantis and Mei. “Alright, let’s not fight,” she pleaded, “I broke it, let me pay for it Master Shifu-”
“No,” Shifu snapped, his patience wearing thin. “Who broke it,” he demanded, his brow furrowed.
Mei and Mantis glared daggers at each other. Monkey licked his teeth uncomfortably. Crane sighed and rolled his eyes, wanting nothing more than this ordeal to be done with. Li coughed. Ping looked at Li. He looked at Li long and hard. He then turned back to Shifu.
“Master Shifu,” he spoke up before lowering his voice slightly, one wing covering the side of his beak, “Li’s been awfully quiet…”
Li Shan gaped at the goose before glaring, “Really?!”
Ping turned back to Li, his wings on his hips and a glare on his own face, “Yes, really!”
“OH MY-”
Needless to say after that, shit hit the fan.
Li and Ping yelled at each other, jabbing fingers in each other's directions. But they didn’t stop with the accusation of the broken teapot. No, Ping had come to the conclusion that if Li broke the teapot, then the elder panda obviously had to also be the reason that his shop’s pantry was running low on his strawberry tofu.
Mei was all set to fight, all she needed was for someone to ring the bell, she was ready. She shifted her weight from one foot to another as Mantis encouraged her to ‘bring it on’. The only thing that was holding her back was Crane. Literally. The aves wrapped his wings tightly around his girlfriend, glowering at Mantis telling him to shut up because how dare he accuse Mei of such a crime?
Monkey casually stood next to Shifu, honestly too-cool-for-school to really care. He nonchalantly told the grandmaster that personally, his money was on Mantis.
Shifu, Oogway give him strength, held his head in his paws.
All of this commotion could be heard outside of the Jade Palace, even as far as the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. Where a certain panda and tiger were currently sat under and meditating. Po bit his lip at the sound of the arguing, his guilty conscience gnawing away at him. He finally sighed and stood up, looking at Tigress who was still sitting down, her eyes shut.
“I broke it,” he confessed.
The feline opened her amber eyes and turned her head to Po, raising one eyebrow, waiting for the full explanation.
Po tapped his fingers together in embarrassment, looking down, “I burned my paw so I punched it.”
Tigress clenched her jaw as the corners of her lips twitched. Of course Po broke it. Dragon Warrior and Master of Chi he may have been, but King of Tact he was not. The way that he handled a first degree burn was just textbook Po. Tigress would’ve laughed had it not been for the guilty look on her friend’s face.
Po sighed as he walked to the stump of the Tree, Tigress looking on in concern. The panda slowly slid down the bark of the trunk before sitting down dejectedly.
“I predict ten minutes from now they’ll be at each other's throats with war paint on their faces,” he groaned, resting his head on one of his paws.
Tigress hated seeing Po upset like this. Yes, he may have broken the teapot, but if the masters and his dads were going to tear each other to shreds over a mistake, well that was on them, not Po. With a small smile, Tigress approached the tree looking down at Po. The panda glanced up at her expectantly. Much to his shock, Tigress punched the bark of the tree once, holding out her free paw as two ripe peaches landed on her palm. She sat next to Po handing one peach to him which he took with a grateful smile.
“Good,” she shrugged, “It was getting a little chummy around here.”
Po couldn't help but chuckle at Tigress’s conclusion before taking a large bite of his peach. He moaned a little at the taste as its juice covered his tongue. He had to admit he felt a little better now. Yes, he may have caused an argument (soon to become a war from the sound of things), but he had his close friend and a delicious peach.
So life was pretty sweet.
And if Po and Tigress heard a crash before Mantis and Mei Ling brawled their way down the 1000 Steps screaming, swearing and yelling insults at each other, well, Po and Tigress pretended not to notice.