In response to the "Breaking Up" comments, aren't I a devil? ;)
It was crippling him. Right, next to his shoulder blade and it seemed to radiate down his spine. Usually, Po would brush it off as just something little. But this little pain grew into something that made it painful to do anything. The weirdest part was that he had no idea how he hurt that muscle. Then again, working with Master Shifu and the others would strain muscles you didn't even know you had. Po limped to his bed and rested on the mat. He laid down on his back. Now came the hard part. Relaxing his back. Slowly, he un-tensed the muscles. Po quickly grabbed his pillow and screamed into it. It really did hurt, but he didn't want the others to know about it. He had seen them go through some tense pain and they seemed fine. He couldn't let a little back pain put him down. Maybe he was just soft, he thought. He was, after all, a panda and wasn't used to these things. But you would think after several years that a person would get used to it. That simply wasn't the case.
There was also another reason why Po didn't want to alarm the others. They would most likely send him to Mantis' care. That terrified Po. The last time Mantis did any kind of medical work on him, he nearly died. He was not going to let Mantis do anything with him. So he had to just suffer in silence. Po moved his back around a bit. There were little bumps in the floor to provide some kind of massaging relief for Po. It seemed to do the trick. Just then, Crane came into the room. "There's a group of bandits robbing the farmers," The bird said. Po grunted as he got back up. This would be very difficult. Po would have to be very precise in order to pull this off. Anything that he did wrong would leave him in crippling pain again. So he did. For the majority of the fight, Po stayed in one place. He taunted bandits to come to him and they would simply be flipped over or sat on. With the Furious Five's help, he was able to be standing after the fight.
"That's all of them," Monkey said dusting his hands.
"Great job guys. I couldn't have done this at all without you," Po said gratefully. He meant that from the bottom of his heart. The pain in his back really prevented him from moving a great deal, and he wouldn't have been able to fight all of them.
"Oh come on, you're the Dragon Warrior. You've taken down bandits more numerous than this," Monkey commented as they headed up the Jade Palace mountain.
"Not now," Po muttered to himself. He made it back to his bed. It was beginning to become dark and everyone was retiring for the night. Po dropped into his bed and slept hoping that the pain would go away tomorrow. When tomorrow came, Po found he couldn't really move around that much. He finally managed to sit up in the bed. Just then, Tigress came into his room.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"Good morning to you too, Tigress," Po joked.
"I heard you grunting a lot last night. It sounded like you were in pain," Tigress mentioned.
"Yeah, it's just a little sore muscle. I'll be fine," Po said about to get up. Tigress gently pushed him back down.
"Rest. By the amount of noise you made last night, you must be in real pain," Tigress said.
"I'm sure it will be-" Before he could finish, the crippling pain radiated through him. He grabbed his pillow and screamed into it. He finally collapsed on his back and panted. "Okay. Maybe I'm in a little (grunt) a lot of pain."
"Where is it?"
"My back. It was just behind my shoulder blade but now it's practically everywhere in my back," Po groaned. "It hurts a lot."
"'Shen's cannon' hurt or 'being slammed into the ground' hurt?" Tigress asked.
"Somewhat of both," Po grunted as he finally let his back relax. "Oh my goodness." Tigress looked at Po for a while then sighed.
"Why don't I help you?" She offered. Po couldn't lift up his head but he stared at Tigress with a questioning look.
"Help me how?"
"I...I'll give you a back massage," Tigress said, stuttering just a bit. Po would have shot up, but the pain was too much.
"Tigress, I don't want you to do something that will make you uncomfortable," Po protested.
"No, it's fine. I've had experience with healing massages," Tigress confidently said, cracking her knuckles. That wasn't a reassuring thing to Po. He gulped. "You'll be fine. I promise I'll be gentle." Po reluctantly turned onto his belly. "Now, just relax and let me worry about this." She started at the shoulder blades, giving them an easy rub, coaxing Po to relax a bit. Once he did, she used more pressure on the area. Po actually started to feel better.
"Ahh," Po gasped.
"Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"
"No, you're good," Po replied. Po chuckled a bit. "I thought it was the man's job to give a woman massages." Tigress blushed a bit. Usually, people only did that if they were married.
"It can go both ways," Tigress answered. Tigress descended down the spine. Po started to grunt a lot more. Tigress spent a bit more time with this area. It was obviously near the source of pain. Slowly, Po started to squirm less. "How long has this thing been bothering you?"
"Since yesterday," Po revealed.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"Two reasons," Po stated. He fell quiet after that. Tigress coaxed him by digging a bit deeper actually starting to hurt him. "Tigress," He grunted.
"What are the two reasons?" She asked with a smirk. Po groaned. He knew that she was going to keep doing that until he answered her.
"I didn't want to cause a scene or look weak," Po replied. Tigress eased off the area and started moving further down.
"Why?"
"I see you guys get hurt or have pain and you seem to just shake it off. Since I was new I thought it was just because I'm not used to the pain. I didn't want to seem like a crybaby," Po said.
"We're like everyone else Po," Tigress said. "Even though I don't feel anything in my hands, I still feel the dull pressure. I just don't feel the tingling sensation that I use to feel." Tigress touched a part of Po's back that cause him to grunt loudly. "Like that." Po glared back at Tigress but just relaxed back. "What's the other reason?"
"I'm not going to have Mantis heal me," Po said bluntly.
"That I understand," Tigress chuckled.
"Thank you for doing this Tigress," Po said. "I know that this is very weird for you."
"Don't worry, I offered it."
"Thanks," Po smiled. Tigress then extracted her claws to try and get a nerve. She pressed lightly as to not startle Po, but Po just started to laugh. "Tigress that tickles." This surprised Tigress. She pressed harder and finally got the nerve as Po stopped laughing.
"I never noticed how thick your skin was, Po," Tigress mentioned.
"Yeah, I'm a weird case," Po said.
"Why weird?"
"My real dad said that my panda clan was actually around a lot of cats for some reason. As a result, we've developed a thick skin so that their claws don't hurt us."
"That explains why you don't hurt easily when I spar with you," Tigress said. She felt around to Po's upper spine and felt a round lump. She heard Po's groan. Maybe this was the reason for his pain. "Po, I want you to grab your pillow and get ready to scream. There's a real possibility that this will hurt a lot." Po did so and whimpered getting ready for the pain. Tigress pressed hard and the little bone popped back in place. Instead of pain, Po felt instant relief.
"AHHH!" Po said relieved. He was completely relaxed.
"I think that's why you were having back problems. That's a bone that regularly gets misplaced." Tigress said, getting up. "Are you feeling better?"
"So much better," Po said, getting up from the bed and jumped around. "Thank you so much Tigress. How did you figure out to do this?"
"You learn a lot from Master Oogway," Tigress said confidently. Tigress felt his hand on her shoulder.
"Thank you, Tigress," Po smiled. Tigress smiled back. "And hey, maybe I could give you a back rub if you're feeling down." It was an innocent gesture but Tigress turned away blushing.
"Well, let's hope that I don't end up with that problem," Tigress said. Though there was a slight thrill to the idea of Po's gentle hands on her back. But that's a story you don't want to read. ;)
The End