A Tail's Tale

Part 10

Meiwa was long gone, having sneaked her way out of the dining hall during the argument. She could still hear the angry voices behind her as she fled, only pausing on the steps outside the Student Barracks to breathe.

Master Oogway, dead? She had been seen him and had been in his presence, just a few hours ago! The weight of her practice fan, usually insignificant, suddenly felt hefty against her waist as she pressed a hand to her forehead. His Cai Li Fo training had been her only motivation for her to stay in the cursed Jade Palace and endure. And now...--!

"Where is she?!" 

Shifu's voice. It was many yards away by this time, but to Meiwa it seemed as though the angry Master was right next to her. Frantically jumping up, the fox began to run again down the stone steps. She furiously blinked back tears, and completely missed the sound of a second pair of footsteps coming up behind her.

Once her eyes cleared, she could see the closed main gate some distance away, and began a sprint. Meiwa had just reached the bottom of the Barracks hill before a small black shape flew high over her head, landing a few feet in front of her. 

She had been caught, and now Meiwa couldn't take another step before colliding with the thick wooden top of a staff. After all the time Shifu had practically held the gates open for her, now he was trying to keep her in!

"You can't run away from this, Fox!" Shifu snapped, pressing the staff against her stomach to force her back. 

"Oh yes I can!" Meiwa shouted, taking a single step back. She managed to move three more steps before the staff was in her way again, and was tempted to try jumping over it. 

"No, you can't!" Shifu argued, keeping the fox level. "You are the Dragon Warrior, and a warrior never runs--"

Meiwa loudly huffed in disgust before he could finish his sentence. "Oh, don't call me that!" she whipped around glaring at Master Shifu with eyes that could have matched Tigress in intensity. "You never believed that nonsense for even a second. You've wanted me to run from the first day, and now you can watch me!"

"I didn't want you to run!" Shifu began to protest.

"Ah, so you want me to die instead?" Meiwa was about to grab at the staff and try pushing it away as her voice climbed higher, "Because I know for sure Tai Lung can manage that without your methods of torture!" 

"I never would want any of my pupils to die, senior or otherwise," the Master countered, looking far calmer than he sounded. "All I ask is for you to trust me as your Master, if only for a moment!"

Meiwa trusted Shifu about as far as she could throw him...going by size, of course. He'd likely be able to throw her twice as far. "Trust you, as my Master?!" she burst out, "...since when, did you ever consider yourself to be my Master?!" 

"The moment when my Master selected you!" Shifu replied, forcing the fox to pause. "He...asked me to trust him, and I always did! I also have reason to believe that you did."

Meiwa shut her eyes for an instant, before replying, "I did trust him. I really did, but not for the reason you think." As she continued, she could almost see the ice in her own voice. "I did, simply because he was the only resident here who didn't snarl at the sight of me, or attack me, or--"

"Fox, now you are being petty." Shifu angled the staff downward, and quickly continued as she opened her mouth to yell something back. "From how you sound, you must think I'd send you to face Tai Lung as you are now!" The fox was silent to this, but her cynical expression said it all. "Of course not! I can train you into the warrior you are destined to be, and I will!"