Insecurities

A Real Talk

Yun whirled the staff about, clashing with Zheng-Hau's staff. "Great! Keep it up!" Zheng-Hau coached. Yun quickly spun the staff around, swinging for his legs, Zheng-Hau jumped up and blocked the other side of Yun's staff from hitting him. As he came back down to the ground, Yun smirked a cheeky smile. "What are you thinking?" Zheng said, anxious about his opponent's grin. Suddenly, Yun flipped gracefully over the jackrabbit and swung her staff at his back, knocking him flat on his face. "Ah!" He groaned, rubbing his sore head. Yun giggled as she helped Zheng-Hau. "Thanks. You're greatly improving, at the cost of the of my pride," Zheng-Hau grumbled.

"Sorry," Yun smiled.

"No, no, I shouldn't have let my guard down, especially around a unique strategist like you. Wow, time flies," Zheng mentioned, looking around and seeing it was getting dark.

"I should get back home," Yun exhaustively exhaled.

"Why don't I escort you?" Zheng-Hau offered. Yun rose her eyebrow.

"Are you sure? Don't you want to rest or see Lin tonight?" Yun asked. Zheng shook his head with a smile.

"No, I'm good," The jackrabbit replied with an easy tone, throwing his hands behind his head as they walked out of the Training Hall. "How's bookkeeping?"

"It's pretty great," Yun smiled shyly. "Master Shifu even thought of giving me a promotion to head servant of the Jade Palace."

"Wow, what does Zeng think about that?" Zheng-Hau asked.

"He was pleased, but he has been uneasy lately," Yun commented. "Maybe you could talk with him."

"I will, thanks," Zheng-Hau said. He sighed as he looked at the beautiful full moon and stars. The air was warm, breezing between the two as the clear deep black sky illuminated under the celestial figures. "It's beautiful tonight."

"Yes, it is," Yun smiled.

"Oh, I told Lin about my feelings for her," Zheng remembered, shocking Yun.

"You did?!" She exclaimed, momentarily losing her composure. "And... what did she say?"

"She said she couldn't return my feelings, of course," Zheng-Hau said nonchalantly.

"And... how do you feel?" Zheng-Hau stopped midway of the steps.

"To be honest. I feel... free... I feel free from the fear of not knowing. Besides, I kind of knew she wasn't."

"How?" Yun asked.

"Come on, Yun. I'm not as clueless as you think," Zheng-Hau smirked. Yun shook her head with a smile.

"Sure," She said sarcastically, "But I'm glad that you feel relieved. I know that confessing your feelings to someone is extremely hard."

"It is," Zheng-Hau sighed, but looked up at the night sky again, "but I think I'll manage. Any pain in our lives is temporary only if we believe it's temporary."

"Hehe, I guess you're right," Yun said as they continued to walk down the steps. "What will you do now though? Lin will be gone and you have no one but Po to really connect with as a family. I don't want to sound pessimistic but-" Zheng-Hau sighed, stopping on the last few steps and sitting down. "Zheng-Hau?"

"I don't know," Zheng groaned with a heavy tone in his voice. "I don't know." Yun knelt down and hugged him tightly as Zheng-Hau just looked down at the ground. Zheng-Hau wiped his eyes to prevent any tears. "I'm sorry for-"

"Don't apologize. Zheng-Hau, I don't know what your life is going to be like now, but I know things will turn out if you let them. You can get through this. You've gotten this far," Yun said. Zheng-Hau meekly smiled as he collected himself together. "I'm sorry that life is weird like this."