Insecurities

The Past Baggage

"Today, we're going to be practicing your Kunai fighting," Zheng said as he pulled out his kunai. "Remember, any weapon you use is an extension of yourself. The kunai is part of that point."

"So it's like a second head?" Po asked.

"Well, it's more like a slightly longer sharp arm," Zheng-Hau corrected. Po pulled out two kunais and started fighting Zheng-Hau with them. Zheng-Hau ducked a swing from Po's kunai and charged at his belly. Po jumped back and waited for the jackrabbit's kunai to be thrown. As Zheng threw it, Po carefully watched it, used his kunais to quickly slow the knife's velocity and catch it in his hand. "Not bad," the jackrabbit commented. Po smiled, but suddenly smoke started coming out of Zheng's kunai.

"Ack, ack, ack!" Po coughed as a blanket of clouds fogged his eyesight.

"But you have to be careful which kunais you catch," Zheng-Hau instructed.

"What *cough* is that?" Po coughed.

"There are a couple of trick kunais," Zheng-Hau replied, pulling out four different kunais, "You got your regular kunais, explosive kunais that have a blast range of about 10-12 feet, your rocket kunais-"

"Rocket kunais?"

"Not the kind you're thinking of," Zheng-Hau corrected, pulling the kunai out. It had a long blade with two slits down the middle. "Once this thing hits something, it digs deep into the rock or whatever its tip touches," Zheng-Hau smacked the tip of the kunai with a rock. The slits down the middle suddenly produced two sharper spikes with serrated edges.

"Wow," Po said. "So cool!"

"The fourth one is a specialized smoke bomb of kunai. You can reuse them but make sure that the smoke mix is full," Zheng-Hau said, reciting the smoke mix recipe to him. "That mix will last you about seven throws."

"Cool," Po smiled. Zheng-Hau smiled back as he started teaching Po each one. Unbeknownst to the two, Tigress and Tai-Lung watched their training from a distance.

"They seem to get along very well. Po is good at faking it," Tai-Lung mentioned with a smirk as he rested his back against the high tree branches.

"He's not faking it," Tigress replied. Tai-Lung opened one eye at her. "Po either likes you or he doesn't. I think he genuinely becoming Zheng-Hau's friend."

"Is that good or bad?" Tai-Lung asked with his hands behind the back of his head.

"I don't know. He may be able to change Zheng's mind, but he may also sympathize with him," Tigress answered. Tai-Lung shook his head with a smile on his face. "What?"

"Po won't betray his friends, but if he does become the rabbit's friend, he'll be able to change his mind."

"How do you have so much faith in Po?" Tigress asked, surprised that the snow leopard was so relaxed about it.

"Why don't you?" Tai-Lung argued, wondering where all those years with the panda went. Did she not know who her friend was? He was living proof that the panda was able to change people. Tigress didn't answer the question as they continued watching the panda and jackrabbit spar and train each other.

Later on, Po and Zheng-Hau finished their training. Zheng-Hau laughed with white smoke mix residue on his clothes. Po had the same on his red cloak. "Well, you finally did get that mix right."

"Hehe, sorry about that," Po chuckled. Zheng-Hau patted Po on the back, still laughing.

"Well, I was the same way when I first learned it. I nearly blew up Zhao's face away," Zheng-Hau smiled.