Yin & Yang (Female Reader + Master Shifu)

Chapter 2: The Jade Palace

Yue followed Oogway into the depths of the Jade Palace. When they reached The Hall of Sacred warriors, she recognized it immediately. Her jaw practically dropped to the floor as she took in the beauty of this legendary place. While the Master led her through the marble halls, she could barely contain her own excitement. Master Oogway smiled to himself, silently observing Yue's joy.

She recognized all of the artifacts and weapons from her readings. Master Flying Rhino's Armor. The Sword of Heroes. The Invisible Trident of Destiny. The gorgeous Paintings on the wall. And last but not least, The Legendary Urn of Whispering Warriors. Never in a million years did the little red panda think she'd ever see any of this with her own eyes.

Yue and Oogway both walked further into the room until they reached a shallow circular pool with crystal clear water, and a dragon sculpture at least thirty feet high, holding a golden scroll in its mouth. Below it, someone was meditating, perpetually chanting. Echoes of the words "Inner peace..." bounced off the walls a few times before reaching Yue's ears.

Master Oogway seemed to have no issue interrupting his meditation. "Oh Shifu... The one with the letter has arrived." He motioned for Yue to step forward. She reluctantly did so after he lightly poked at the small of her back with his staff. The one Oogway was speaking to finally rose to his feet and turned around to face them.

A red panda. In a reddish-burgandy robe with a brown sash. Sharp sapphire blue eyes. He was taller than Yue by a couple inches, the color of his fur had similar patters of white and red. His perfect posture appropriately suited his condescending gaze. His hands were fixed properly behind his back.

When Yue's eyes met with his, they simultaneously widened. Another... red panda?... was her initial thought, and likely his as well. They both found themselves mutually stuck in a daze of disbelief. Shifu snapped out of it before she did. Yue only came to when he spoke up.

"May I ask, how you came into possession of this letter?" His voice was calm, deep, and undeniably agitated.

"I... found it..." She replied to him nervously with a half committed smirk. Her hand trembled as she carefully reached forward to hand it off to him. There he was before her, Master Shifu, the greatest Kung Fu teacher in all of China.

While Yue was distracted with her thoughts, Shifu seemed to disappear for a split second and then reappear behind her. The letter was swiped from her hand before she could even see it happen.

"You... found it?..." He repeated Yue's words with a harsh, skeptical tone, glaring at Master Oogway with obvious annoyance in his icy blue eyes.

To calm the tension, Oogway simply laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "It... found her... And she... found you, Shifu." He winked and turned to leave the room before Shifu could object.

"So it seems." Shifu muttered under his breath, out of some need to have the last word.

"Well, you've got your letter back, so I guess I'll be going now?..." Yue asked awkwardly, already picking up on the fact that Master Shifu wanted nothing to do with this situation. She started walking towards the exit, but despite her attempt, he intervened.

"No." Shifu abruptly moved in front of her path, facing her with his hands behind his back. "You opened the letter, did you not? Your training begins tomorrow morning. You'll soon get acquainted with the rest of my students. Be ready at 6 o'clock sharp." He had a slightly sadistic smile on his face as he gave his orders. "For now, I'll show you to your room."

Naturally Yue was dumbfounded by all of this sudden information. One moment she was simply trying to return a lost letter, and now she had just become a student of the Jade Palace? I must be dreaming... She thought to herself. How could this be?...

Master Shifu led Yue out of The Sacred Hall of Warriors and showed her to the living quarters. Most of the rooms were occupied by the Five, but there were two spare ones left at the very end of the hallway. Shifu instructed Yue to take the one to the right, and left her there before she could ask any further questions.

As she slid the door closed behind her, Yue heard murmuring through the paper thin walls. "Who is that?" Asked one voice. "Nooo idea..." The other answered. She figured she had accidentally woke up some of Shifu's students and would owe them an apology in the morning.

For now Yue kept silent and snuck into her new bed, rolling the covers over herself for warmth. Despite the nice new sleeping quarters, she felt no comfort, only anxiety. Over and over, the red panda girl asked herself- What have you gotten yourself into? Could you really handle training with Master Shifu and the Furious Five?... There was only one way to find out.

Yue didn't get much sleep at all that night. A couple of hours at best. Suddenly a gong chimed loudly, and she could hear the sounds of the doors sliding open, accompanied by five voices obediently saying "Good morning, Master!" It was as if they were trained and tasked to do this, every time the sun peaked over the valley. Yue obviously missed the memo.

Shifu didn't expect Yue to be aware of his morning routine standards the very first day, but he still planned to punish her for her ignorance, simply so she'd never forget again. As he took a breath to raise his voice, he realized he never learned his new student's name. Instead, he shouted, "Red Panda!" figuring she'd get the message.

Bursting through the door, Yue stumbled into the hallway and assumed the best posture she could within the least amount of time. To her shock, the Furious Five, Tigress, Monkey, Snake, Mantis and Crane all had their eyes fixed on her. Their expressions varied from utterly confused, to threatening- with Tigress openly showing the majority of the fury.

Without thinking, she spoke out of line. "My name is Yue!..." After the words left her mouth she instantly regretted them.

Shifu's eyes narrowed, an awkward silence was to follow. The Five were all biting their tongues and maintaining a respectful demeanor in their Master's presence. The hallway was dead silent, all that could be heard was Shifu's footsteps on the wooden floor- this was deliberate- slowly pacing towards his new student. The Master stopped in front of Yue and turned to face her, their noses a mere inch apart. His eyes burned into hers like hot coals, rendering the poor panda girl unresponsive.

Addressing the entire room, Master Shifu spoke firmly. "The five of you will have breakfast and then assume your daily training. The new student will report to the yard immediately after this announcement. When she has been properly trained, she may eat."

"Yes Master!" The Five replied in harmony before taking off to go eat. They paid absolutely no attention to Yue as they passed her by, acting if she wasn't even there.

Yue's stomach growled as she silently cursed herself for not eating enough the night before. Due to lack of sleep, the panda girl was drowsy beyond measure, but orders were orders. This was all happening so fast, and yet, deep down she felt that obeying her new Master was the right thing to do.

Shifu had left the hallway by now, giving her time to shake off her fatigue and find her way to the training yard. As promised, he waited there for her, standing tall with his arms neatly folded behind him.

"Took you long enough. Did you get yourself lost already?" His tone was snide and the utterly unwelcoming.

"N-no, Master Shifu, I-" Yue choked on her words. The poor girl wasn't prepared for Shifu's cruelty this early in the morning. She tried to finish her sentence but he interrupted.

"Good. Let's begin." Shifu smirked, snapping his fingers.