Cloudless Authors

CHAPTER 十一

"No."

Master Shifu froze in surprise before regaining his composure. "You're walking on a fine line," he seethed.

"I didn't do this on purpose," Tai Lung told him.

"You just came barrelling through here injuring students, destroying ancient training equipment, and attacking honorable masters for selfish gains!"

"Selfish gains?" Tai Lung repeated. He hopped down to the dug out floor of the training hall and leaned against the side. "Alright then, master. What am I here for?"

"What are you here for?! You could be here for multiple things! The Dragon Scroll, revenge against Po, the chance to prove your strength as very clearly demonstrated!!!"

Tai Lung looked over at Po. "You want to give him the honest truth, or shall I?" he questioned. 

"Hey, I don't know what happened before I caught you and Tigress in a fight, so you can tell that part," Po answered. 

"Perfect. I survived the Wuxi Finger miraculously and I had plenty of time to think over what happened. I came all the way back here to apologize for the bad choices I made." 

"Oh please!" Shifu grumbled. 

"I was on my way back to say hello and apologize when I saw Tigress, so I thought I'd say hi and explain myself. You know, trying to break the ice. Naturally it didn't go over well, so I thought I'd drop by personally and apologize for that." He laughed nervously. "I probably should have just stuck to the original plan and talked to you, Shifu, but I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment." 

"But you and Tigress were fighting when I walked in," Po pointed out. 

"She wanted to fight me because she thought I was a threat. And I naturally can't resist a kung fu match." 

"How moving," Shifu told him. "That does not excuse the fact that you were banished from the Valley of Peace for the same reasons you've been caught now!"

"I was banished because I made the mistake of waking up a very cranky kung fu master with the intent of saying, Sorry for scaring you and being a jerk?" Tai-Lung half-joked. 

"You couldn't wait until morning to do any of this?" Monkey asked him with an exasperated wave of his hands. 

"I didn't want to deal with all of you chasing me and trying to Wuxi Finger me before I could explain myself."

Shifu gave the snow leopard a hard look. "Were you standing in the corner creepily staring at people again?" he accused. 

Tai Lung turned a little red. "I mean...I was...sort of...." he admitted. "But she was already awake when I tried talking to her, so she probably just didn't hear me come in and got startled." 

"You really need to stop doing that! That was creepy when you were a toddler and it's still creepy now!" 

"I know, I'm sorry. It's a bad habit." 

"That sounds creepy," Po commented. "Waking up and some kid is just staring at you."

"There was more to it than just standing silently in the dark, trust me," Shifu tacked on with a mild shudder. 

Tigress interrupted the conversation with some groaning and slight twitching, but she didn't stir awake. 

"We really should get her to bed," Mantis observed. "And make sure she doesn't have anything broken." 

"I can carry her to bed," Tai Lung offered. 

"After the mess you made?!" Shifu snapped. 

"I'll fix it. You can fix a building, but not the people in it."   As Shifu blinked in surprise, he added, "I may have lost my honor, but I haven't lost the lessons you taught me."