Chapter Text
Morning light trickles through an open window, creeping across the floor as the sun rises. An orange tiger sits upon her sleeping mat, deep in meditation. Her ear flicks as warmth tickles her knee. Her eyes open, bright green irises illuminating the last lick of shadows.
The tiger breathes in deeply, giving the rising sun a smirk. She stand fluidly, waiting for the morning gong to sound in three. Two. One.
“Good morning, Master!” She adds to the chorus of others around her. For anyone else, moving so quickly would be dizzying. They had all done it so many times, it was rote by then. They all hold their respective bows until the grandmaster nods his assent.
While she was waiting, the tiger sneaks a quick peek at the panda across from her. As always, he’s shifting around, unable to remain still at the dawn of a new day. She smiles to herself, taking solace in the fact that he had his own eyes closed.
“As you all must know, a special day is merely a week away. For the celebration of the Qixi Festival, I have-.” A sharp squeal rattles the hallway, causing Shifu to pin his ears back. The sound had come from the serpent master. She tilts her head with a sheepish smile aimed at the grandmaster.
“Sorry, Master Shifu…” She whispers, turning her gaze to the crane that was busy struggling not to laugh out loud behind his hat. She squints her eyes and blows a raspberry at him.
“Master Viper, if you please! Now- What was I talking about…” The elder hums.
“Oh, yes! The Qixi Festival! During this time, I have commissioned each of you to aid in putting the decorations together as the rest of the village works on the rest of the activities. Master Monkey. Master Mantis. You both will take the north side of the valley. Do not disappoint me this year! Master Viper, Master Crane, the south. And please do not distract one another this time. Po and Master Tigress will take the west. At least I can count on the two of you to keep yourselves in line. I will assist the east. Now get some breakfast and meet me at the village archway in one hour.” Master Shifu orders, leaving quickly back the way he had come.
Once they are free to move, Mantis leaps onto Monkey’s shoulder and they already start whispering to each other mischievously. Viper makes her move as well, zipping up and drapping herself over the bird’s back. She follows the curve of his neck with her own, slipping her own head under his hat so she was now the one wearing it. Crane simply lets her as he walks after the other two. Tigress and Po, being the furthest rooms from the door, are last.
“Man, I am starving! I hope they’re serving sweet buns today!” The dragon warrior pulls up his pants as he walks.
“You’ve lost a little weight, Po.” Tigress remarks. Hopefully he doesn’t realize the fact that she had been staring.
“Yeah, ha ha! Gotta get some more dumplings in this belly!” Po laughs, jiggling his own stomach with his hand.
“What about you? You hungry?” Po asks the tiger master. She chuffs at his enthusiasm.
“Perhaps not entirely hungry. Peckish, I would say.” Tigress replies, walking slightly behind the bear and discretely scanning his features every once in a while. It was a new habit she’d picked up from somewhere, and she wasn’t sure where or why. She only knew that she couldn’t stop herself. And really, what was the major issue? It wasn’t like she was hurting anything.
…
Breakfast was a whole ordeal. Po had somehow managed to convince Monkey to trade seats with him on the way so he was sitting next to Tigress. The primate master didn’t mind; after all, now he was closer to Mantis. Viper and Crane were becoming rather distracting themselves.
Occasionally, the two would whisper something to one another and giggle in response. They would nuzzle themselves into the other’s cheek. Viper actually kissed Crane on his once, his entire face turning bright red. He tilts his hat down to hide himself as Viper snorts with laughter.
Monkey and Mantis were no better. The two were constantly trading food that the other would like, eating off one another’s plates. Monkey would lightly tease Mantis, which would cause the latter to smack the other and vice versa. Eventually, Mantis had scooted himself all the way over until he was sitting on Monkey’s resting arm as they ate. At one point, they fed each other.
Tigress kept her eyes lowered at the displays of affection. She’d peek at them every now and again, but every time, a pain in her chest struck. She discreetly rubs at it as she turns pack to her food. She glances at Po to see what his reaction to the others would be. Oh, that was a bad idea!
The pain in her chest feels like an arrow straight through her when she looks up to find that he’d had the same idea as she did. They lock eyes for a moment, the dragon warrior mid-chew and her mouth stupidly hanging open with the intent of her next bite. They snap their heads away from one another, keeping to themselves for the rest of the meal.
As soon as they’re all finished, Tigress had never left so quickly. Her chest hurt so badly, but she still didn’t understand why. Could something have been wrong with the food? But that didn’t seem right; she loved spicy stuff! Oh well. That didn’t matter right now; they had a job to do.