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“How are you going to turn this into the Dragon Warrior?” A pause, the tension did not reach the pinnacle where she furtively watched the scene, all she saw was the panda's dismay, his harsh words almost left her moved, catching his breath and faced with the master's lack of response, he reiterated in a more demanding way “Como?”
She observes, narrowing her gaze, unable to see her master's expression, he seemed small at that distance, even more so compared to the panda, again Po demanded an answer, which she also patiently waited.
Then, she saw Shifu exasperated, for the first time admitting it, she could see his small figure shrink in dismay and hopelessness.
Simple and small words.
"I don't know."
Without moving, Tigress watched the argument end, the two defeated, complete hopelessness in the face of the threat to the palace.
She walked across the roof, looking for what she believed to be the last time at the big, pale moon, her heart aching.
She doesn't have time to mourn.
• ❦ •
Twenty years ago…
It didn't make sense.
She had a home, hot food, a comfortable bed, a room with a window, some toys, and the geese were all kind and polite to her. Despite not seeing Master Shifu often, he was still sweet and gentle.
But even so, there were still nights when she cried herself to sleep.
She had nightmares, one day she would wake up back in that dark and cold place, she was afraid, afraid of seeing that monster in her again, afraid of failing, she felt so scared, but sometimes they were even more terrible nightmares, with destruction and screams, dark things that she didn't know where they came from, but they scared her deeply.
Her cries were not loud, nor scandalous, they were little meows, sniffles, she curled up as tightly as she could and hugged her tail, trying to feel some comfort.
She dreamed of the day those nights would end, she imagined that she would be adopted by loving parents who would come to her and the bad nights would end.
But… even after adoption, that didn't happen, no matter how well she was treated, her nights were still lonely, and Shifu's kindness wasn't love.
She cried, feeling guilty for wanting something more even after coming to live in the grand jade palace.
She was a selfish cat.
Little Tigress froze when the bedroom door slowly opened, she immediately stopped making any sound, feeling her heart palpitate, she had woken someone up, Master Shifu becomes furious if his sleep is interrupted-
She didn't have time to think, because suddenly she was lifted up, immediately she started kicking and hissing, clawing at the air and opening her tail.
She only stopped when she saw two golden eyes staring at her, she immediately froze, cowering as that huge predator stared at her.
It was similar to the day they met, except it was night and Tai Lung seemed more stoic, he didn't smile, studying her skeptically.
She still didn't know him very well, but she loved sneaking in to watch him train, she usually did that when she couldn't sleep, scared of the huge, silent palace.
The little cat waited for some reprimand, or questions she couldn't answer, she tried to put words together, an apology, but her chin instantly began to tremble and her eyes filled with more tears, after a long moment the leopard just hugged her, gently picking her up.
“Let’s go for a walk.”
It was simple, but his voice wasn't full of the pride and sarcasm he used with everyone, Tigress didn't notice, but with her it was always that monotone, seemingly uninterested tone.
It felt like permission.
With him, it was like that, she could act naturally.
Shrinking back, she meowed, starting to cry, suddenly being wrapped in the arms of the larger feline.
She continued sniffling, shrinking more when they went outside the palace, she ended up getting tears and snot all over his chest, but apparently the leopard didn't care (which was strange, since he was very petty about everything), she even sneezed when they came into contact with the freezing air.
Eventually, he moved her to his back, making her hug his neck, Tigress continued sniffling, her meows thin and low.
Then Tai Lung broke the silence.
“Hey, look at this.”
It was so sudden, so natural, she immediately lifted her head, wiping away her tears and trying to see what he saw.
He laughed internally, she was a curious little thing.
The leopard pointed its head towards the starry sky, without stopping walking.
“Take a good look at the moon.” He instructed, then walked more quickly, Tigress obeyed, even if she didn't understand what he wanted with that. “It’s following us.”
Looking back, it was a beautiful memory, an almost legitimate attempt to make her feel wanted, but at that moment she looked at the leopard, with all his arrogance and childlike innocence, as if he was crazy at the best of times.
“Don’t you know, Tai Lung gege?” She asked arrogantly and then pointed to the moon “The moon follows everyone.”
The leopard was disconcerted for a few moments, he seemed to have been taken by surprise, he probably didn't think she was so smart, or maybe when it was his turn to hear that story he didn't think he was that smart.
But little Tigress kept looking at him, she was scared, thinking if he would be irritated by her correcting him, she cowered, waiting for his reaction.
Then in a snap so sudden it almost made her jump, he laughed.
He laughed so loudly that she was scared by the noise, wasn't he afraid of waking everyone up?
The leopard laughed for a few moments, amused by the little tiger's confused and frightened expression, he looked at her with renewed serenity and continued to smile.
“How stupid I was, I thought you were just a silly kitten.” He scolded himself, picking her up again and adjusting her, so that they could gaze at the moon together “That way, maybe you should be the dragon warrior and not me.”
She blushed at the words, looking at him with admiration, it was the first time she had seen him be so soft, he wiped her cheeks, still with an amused smile on his face.
Then he said to her, the sweetest words that not even in twenty years has anyone come close to saying.
“I thought the moon was following us because she liked you.”
She stopped crying at night out of fear that people would stop liking her after that, foolishly repeating to herself that even the moon liked her.
Days passed and she was caught spying on the leopard training, she figured she was really in trouble this time, but again he was kind enough to train her and for a while, she believed he would be her master.
But when everything happened, she never expressed those thoughts, the nights were lonely again, with no escapes, the moon was her only companion and without knowing that the hole he was in was so deep that not even the moon could keep him company, she expects exactly this.
• ❦ •
Tigress opened her eyes, pupils dilating, seeing the roof getting bigger, she spun in the air, landing skillfully, looking at the palace and the moon again, one last time, she told herself.
“This is what you trained me to do.”