Cloudless Authors

Chapter 十六

Tigress watched Master Shifu furrow his brow in thought. She closed her yes and quietly sighed before before swallowing her pride and speaking. "You don't need to Wuxi Finger him. This is my fault." 

Everyone turned to look at the master in utter surprise. Tai Lung probably would have turned too, but he was in too much pain to have that range of motion. 

"How is this mess your fault?" Shifu questioned. "You didn't destroy the valley...attack Po...break into the Jade Palace in the dead of night to attack a training master."

Tigress felt a hot embarrassed flash settling in her face as she braced herself for the worst. (Tai Lung was too, but Po was the only one who noticed him gritting his teeth). "Tai Lung didn't attack me," she explained. "I attacked him because I panicked and immediately figured he was here for vengeance. And the only reason he went looking for me was because I...got spooked when I saw him yesterday...on my patrol...." 

A dead silence hung in the air. Shifu went very slowly from a look of confusion and concern to an expression of irritation. However, the masters had all lived at the Jade Palace long enough to know that that particular face was about to get very ugly. 

"Let me get this straight," Shifu glowered at the now very terrified Tigress. "When I asked you this morning if you saw anything last night...you decided to say NOTHING about the fact that an old enemy, a potentially dangerous person, WAS LURKING AROUND THE VALLEY OF PEACE??!!!"

Tigress' throat went completely dry. "I..." she stammered. "I...I...." She paused to swallow and find her voice. "I...I don't have any excuse. I should have said something." 

Shifu's expression shifted into a terrifying stare of deep-rooted anger. His body began to tremble in fury, but he was quick to close his eyes, take a deep breath, and walk out of the training hall with the doors slamming behind him. The echo hung in the air for a second before dissipating and allowing everyone to relax for a brief moment. 

"How long do you think it'll take this time for him to calm down?" Po asked quietly, not wanting Shifu to overhear. 

"He calms down now?" Tai Lung mumbled from his spot. "That's new." 

Po let go of the snow leopard's paw and let him lay down on the floor to catch his breath and rest his wounds. At this point, Wuxi Fingering him wasn't a top concern. 

"How come you didn't say anything?" Mantis accused Tai Lung. "You could have explained what happened." 

"I know the terror that comes from Shifu being angry," the snow leopard explained. "What he lacks in frequency he makes up for in amplitude. So I offered to keep my mouth shut when I found out she didn't report me." 

"He did," Tigress admitted. "Though I wasn't all for it." 

Tai Lung started to ask her a question, only for Shifu to reopen the training hall doors and looked Tigress dead in the eyes. 

"Tigress, a word please," he ordered flatly. 

Tigress swallowed the terrifying lump in her throat and obediently followed her master outside upon which he slammed the doors shut again. With nothing else to do, what with Shifu occupied, the remaining Furious Five turned their attention to Tai Lung. 

"Why talk to Tigress?" Monkey asked. "You could have just avoided her patrol path and went right to-"

A loud THWACK! from outside interrupted the question. It was so loud and sounded so painful that everyone inside winced. 

"I hate when honesty makes you pay through the nose," Po grimaced. 

"Shifu would just use anything around when I was training with him," Tai Lung offered. "I once broke a sacred relic on accident and he took the pedestal and hit me on the back." 

Viper winced. "Well I'm glad he doesn't get in that kind of mood often," she admitted. "That sounds worse than getting whacked with a staff or flute." 

"Or chopsticks," Po added grumpily. 

The group soon reengaged back into a question-answer discussion with Tai Lung, during which they learned that he had returned to offer an apology to Shifu for the terrible way he had acted. His plan had been to get in the Jade Palace undetected and talk to Shifu one-on-one, but along the way, Tigress had hear him scampering through the treetops. Tai Lung didn't want to risk a chase, so he instead stopped to say hello. As was to be expected, Tigress got spooked and the conversation hadn't gone well. 

The discussion soon changed into pleasant conversation and the masters helped Tai Lung to sit up and get comfortable. At some point, Master Shifu came back alone and asked to speak to Tai Lung in private. The masters quickly assured him that the snow leopard was not back to make trouble before the two left the training hall. They then decided to tidy up the training hall before heading over to the kitchen for some late-night tea. Viper went to look for Tigress, thinking she might have been by the peach tree or in the barracks, but she was no where to be found. Shifu eventually showed back up with Tai Lung in tow and explained that he would welcomed back to the Jade Palace. Mantis was then asked to bandage him up, which the master agreed to immediately, seeing that Tai Lung was still wincing from his injuries. 

The masters soon retired to bed with the hope that Shifu would be a lot calmer by morning. Tai Lung was put in the barracks, a change from his own room, and and waited until everyone was sleeping before getting up and going to Tigress' room. Shifu had kept her in the Sacred Hall of Warriors so that he could drive home the point that she had nearly killed someone and could have avoided doing so had she spoken up. 

Tai Lung opened the door and saw the master immediately squirm away from him. She was still awake. "Tigress?" he asked. 

"What do you want?" Tigress muttered.

 "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

The master rolled over and sat up on her bed to look him dead in the face. She looked like she had been crying, though it was a little hard to tell in the dark. "Do I look okay?!" she snapped, drawing the snow leopard's attention to the bruise on her face. 

Tai Lung winced. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that," he said. 

"Why didn't you say anything? He could have killed you. You could have created a distraction and ran!"

"I don't break my promises. Why did you speak up? You didn't have to." 

Tigress hesitated. Then answered: "I felt bad. And...I realized I might have overreacted."

She rested her head on her knees with a miserable sigh and Tai Lung walked over and sat down next to her. He gave the master a gentle kiss on the bruised part of her face before pulling her into a reassuring hug. One could say that it was awkward considering the night's events, but in the moment, with pain and terror still clear in their minds, they both really needed it.

THE END

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