Apology

It was early in the morning, the sun had not yet risen leaving the valley in a purple hue. Tigress sat alone by the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom, thinking about this newly arrived person at the palace; The Dragon Warrior, also known as Po Ping, the flabby and fat panda who had defeated the feared Tai Lung, using nothing but regular every day items to his advantage against him.

She looked back at how she had treated him just a few days earlier.

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"Master Tigress! Didn't mean to wake you, just uhh.." The panda said as he tried tip-toeing to his room, having just noticed the tiger opening her doors to the room in order to have a word with him.

"You don't belong here." She started, glaring at the panda.

"Uh, yeah, yeah, of course, this is your room." Po said, leaning back, visibly scared by the feline.

"I mean," Tigress started, leaning further forward; "You don't belong in the Jade Palace." she further told, catching the panda off guard, even having pierced his heart the first thing she did.

Tigress clenched her teeth, simply annoyed and irritated by the panda's mere presence. "You're a disgrace to kung fu and if you have any respect for who we are," she started and rose her head, keeping her gaze locked at the panda. "And what we do..." Tigress said and stepped closer to the panda. "You.. Will be gone, by morning." She finished and closed the doors in front of him with a slam.

Po remained in place outside her doors, simply taken aback at her words. He didn't see that coming. "Big fan." He muttered as he continued walking to his bedroom.

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Tigress, still having her eyes shut, decided to stop meditating and rose up.

*I probably scarred that poor panda.* she thought and sighed. *I need to apologize later today. And I need to learn more about him.*

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Later that day, Tigress sat by the kitchen table, holding two chopsticks between her fingers, munching on a few tofu cubes. Po had yet again made food for them, well, the other four masters. They seemed to love his cooking.

Po stood by the counter, taking care of the dishes that had been left behind. He gently cleaned a few bowls with a small cloth. The other four had decided to take a walk down to the village because they were running low on food at the kitchen. That left a stale silence between the panda and the tiger.

"So, uhh.." Po began, trying to initiate a conversation with the feline. "How long have you been training?" He finally muttered out.

Tigress dropped the chopsticks on the table, swallowing the last tofu cube. "22 years."

"Woah, that is quite.. a long time. Isn't it?"

"Not really, if you would consider thinking about Master Oogway."

"Right, so uhh.. How old are you then?"

"25."

"25?! Woah, I guess we're about the same age then. So you started training when you were 3 years old?"

"Yes, Shifu took me in and started with making me perform tai chi."

"Oh, yeah, I heard that before."

Tigress took a deep breath and rose up, placing her plate on the wooden counter.

Po leaned away from her, something she quickly noticed but didn't say anything about.

She walked out of the kitchen, leaving the kitchen in silence yet again. She came to a halt right outside the exit, Po unaware of it. *should I apologize now? I have the chance.* half of Tigress thought, the other half thought; *I still have time, I can take it later.* and so she continued heading off.