Insecurities

The Tiger and the Hare

Three days later, Zheng-Hau paced around, mumbling to himself as he walked up and down the first few flights of the Jade Palace stairs. "Lin, I know we've known each other for a while and... no, that's not it. Lin, I think I want to... No that's not it either!" Zheng-Hau exclaimed, falling flat on his back on the steps. "Ow," Zheng-Hau mumbled simply out of mere habit. "Ugh, how do I do this?"

"Are you okay?" said an intense female voice. Zheng-Hau jumped up when he heard Tigress's voice and bowed lowly.

"Master Tigress! I'm sorry I was-" Tigress stopped the jackrabbit with her raised hand. She showed a glint of a smile. Tigress looked down the village's dirt road, pondering a thought in her head.

"Why don't we take a walk?" Zheng's body wouldn't move for a moment, but he firmly believed Tigress could strangle him with her non-damaged hand. They walked silently down the quaint dirt road. Zheng-Hau repeatedly glanced at Tigress's bandaged shoulder. "It's healing. You were very merciful."

"You could tell?"

"Those arrows are specially equipped to be completely silent... You could have killed me," Tigress replied.

Zheng sighed, "I... I was just hurting. I'm really sorry that I-"

"Enough with the apologies," Tigress groaned, "You weren't thinking. You were hurt and felt betrayed. It's behind us." Zheng-Hau slowly nodded as he followed her.

"You move on quick," Zheng-Hau mentioned.

"You have to when you're dealing with pain. Otherwise, it never heals," Tigress said with her head held high. Zheng stopped in his tracks and crossed his arms. Tigress turned around. She was puzzled he had a furrowed closed-off look.

"So you just put it on the backburner?" Zheng-Hau declared more than he asked.

"Excuse me?" Tigress's glared with her raised eyebrow. Zheng shakily breathed in and out, lowering his racing heart.

"Leaving certain things on the backburner has never helped me," Zheng-Hau replied, walking up to her and staring straight in her eyes. "It's part of the reason why I left. Simply moving on and forgetting the incident ever happened is not the way life should be lived."

"Why?" Tigress growled, showing a slight view of her sharp teeth. Zheng-Hau gulped, but if he could fight this woman then he could talk to her without being afraid.

"Be... because," he stuttered, "if you forget the past, you'll be doomed to repeat it." Zheng-Hau sighed, "I'm sorry if I was disrespectful, but it's not right to simply move on when you truly haven't." Tigress's eyes slightly widened at the jackrabbit for a while before staring straight ahead.

"You weren't," She simply replied as they moved on. "So where are we going?"

"To Lin's place," Zheng-Hau replied. Lin and Yun moved into the Valley of Peace fairly easy. Lin worked for Mr. Ping while Yun's services were extremely useful at the Jade Palace. We've never been so organized before in my lifetime, Shifu had said.

"Why are you going over there?" Tigress questioned.

"I'm going to tell Lin that I have feelings for her," Zheng-Hau said. Tigress's head sharply turned to the jackrabbit with her eyes wide open. Zheng took no notice, but Tigress was surprised. First, because he said it so openly and casually. Second, because he was doing it. It reminded her of what Yun said and made her wonder how much Po was keeping from her. Tigress shook her head awake. She needed to be mentally present for this.

"Why now?" She asked.

"I won't be able to move on if I don't know for sure," Zheng-Hau replied as they came near the house. "Could you... uh..."