Insecurities

The Creeping Worries

The panda looked at the ceiling from his seat. His arm was propped up on the desk in his room. A feather in his hand hung low to the ground while he still looked up. "Ugh, why is this so hard to do?" Po grumbled. Master Shifu asked the panda to write a book of things that could help people in the village to excel in life. Of course, the red panda failed to mention to Po that everyone in China would be getting their hands on this book. It could be a story, a list of proverbs or wise sayings, like Sun Tzu, or some autobiographical book. While Po could very easily write a book on whatever he pleases, he couldn't figure out how to even start this one. "UGH!" Po slammed the feather on the table and got up from the chair. He needed some air. The panda walked over to the kitchen to see Monkey and Crane.

"Hey, Po! What's up?"

"Nothing," Po said dismayed, getting a bowl of bean buns and stuffing them into his mouth. Both the crane and monkey sighed.

"You're upset."

"No, I'm not," Po muttered through the mouthful of bean buns. They all knew it was a lie. Po gulped down his food. "Okay, I am."

"What's the matter?" Crane asked.

"It's the book," Po explained, "I don't know what to put in it."

"Well, I'm sure that something will come up," Crane said hopefully. "Besides, you don't have to make the book all in one day."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Po," Monkey laughed. "No one said that it had to be done by tomorrow."

"Well, that's what Master Shifu made it sound like," Po muttered. "Where are the two Ts?"

"Where do you think?" Crane sighed. Po rolled his eyes with a smile. He knew where the two were.

The infamous Tai-Lung had been reformed from the Spirit Realm. Although he was still a hand full for Po, he managed to get the seal of approval from the panda when he started saving his life multiple times. Tigress had a longer time to get used to the snow leopard being around, but they finally managed to work agreeable teamwork. They had gotten better at not killing each other. One could actually be fooled into thinking that they actually cared for one another. "I'll make sure they're okay."

"You don't trust Tigress to take care of herself?" Monkey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I do," Po said, getting up, "But making sure she DOESN'T kill Tai-Lung is a different story." Po left the group to go to the Training Hall. Opening the doors, he saw the snow leopard and the tiger fighting it out with Viper and Mantis on the sidelines. The panda walked over to the two green animals. "How long have they been sparring?"

"Since this morning," Viper replied. "It's weird how these two go at it." It was true. It seemed like with Tai-Lung, Tigress could go all out and take it. Tigress jumped up, sending a powerful punch into Tai-Lung's blocked arm. The snow leopard jumped out of the way, quickly rushing the tiger from the side. Tigress blocked his kick with her leg, smirking at the snow leopard's attempt as she forced him back with an open palmed blow. Tai-Lung smirked cockily as they finally separated and bowed to each other. Po was glad that they finally got over their differences and were now working towards training each other. They could even be something more.

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Insecurities creep up on us like a viper mixed with a spider. Lurking in the shadows, subtly waiting. Bad things always get us in a subtle way. A thought. A simple thought whispered to the ear but works its way into the messy works of our brains. Just a small thought. Po's smile disappeared at the thought. The thought rambled around his brain, jumping from place to place in his memories and thought patterns. He looked down at his belly and a frown formed on his face. When the two cats came over to him, he disappeared to his room. Tai-Lung was concerned.