Kung Fu Panda: The Hunt For The Heir (OC x Tigress fanfic)

Chapter 9: Stalking & Observing The Hunter

Hunter was stalking. His prey were easy pickings, especially without knowing he was coming for them. He leaned against a stall, spotting two more guards ripe for the kill. He moved off and was about to go after them, but he heard something beside him, and saw a snake fall from the roof above him... She seemed to be dazed, so he quickly moved over to her in concern. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, holding out a hand for her to take.

The end of her tail grabbed it and she lifted her upper body up before letting go. "I'm fine, thank you." she smiled widely, too widely, as if...

Hunter then heard the two guards moving towards them then and thought quickly what to do to avoid being spotted. However, he saw only one option. "Sorry about this." He said, taking his mask down. Suddenly she felt his lips on hers. They felt so strange... Very unlike how she imagined kissing any other person would feel like. She gasped in shock, muffled by the kiss with her eyes wide from the surprise of it. He pressed her against the wall out of the way, and the two guards turned to them. She quickly shut her eyes and tilted her head, pretending she was enjoying the kiss... Pretending. One of the guards wolf-whistled in appreciation of the public act of affection, which was apropos due to both guards being Wolves. When they'd moved on, Hunter stopped kissing Viper and looked apologetically at her, pulling his mask back up quickly. "I'm so so so sorry." he apologised to her profusely at the unwarranted act.

She saw he looked genuinely apologetic, but Viper was far too shocked to say anything back to him right away. "No, no... It's fine." she finally managed to say with a smile as he nodded to her. He looked on after the guards before turning back and smiling sheepishly to her. "I'll be around. Find me later and I'll try to make it up to you... Somehow." Hunter said and quickly jogged after the guards.

Once she'd gotten out of sight, Viper climbed the building back to where the others were waiting, all with shocked expressions on their faces, having witnessed what had happened. "Viper, are you okay?" Monkey asked her, but was just as much shocked as everyone else.

Viper nodded in response. "Uh huh." she replied, still in shock herself at the sudden action on his part. She must admit it was a good plan...

Meanwhile Hunter had moved behind the two guards that had walked away and suddenly threw his arms around the two of them, making himself purposefully more sluggish. "MAN! I'm in loooooove..." he exclaimed happily with a slur to his voice, looking dreamily at the sky, laughing at nothing.

One of the guards scoffed at that. "Yeah we saw." he nodded to Hunter in amusement, rolling his eyes.

The other guard shook his head the antics of this drunken idiot. "Where's your scaly lady friend?" he asked Hunter.

Hunter then forced them to turn to a dark alley in between some buildings, gesturing broadly to it. "She's... *hic* in that alley. Maaaan she's freakkkky. Said she wanted a fourrrrsume, and I thought I spotted two handsome wolves walking past..." He winked to the two of them, and they both grinned at that.

One of the guards nodded at that with his grin still plastered on his face. "Sounds good to me."

"Me too." said the other one in earnest agreement and both let Hunter lead them into the alleyway.

Pfft, easy prey. He grabbed both of them by their muzzles and quickly snapped their necks simultaneously, letting their bodies drop to the floor unceremoniously. He took two more teeth and exited the alleyway as if nothing had happened. As he walked, he swore he saw something on the roof above... Maybe that snake? Was she following him? Hunter had never thought about kissing anyone... Let alone a lovely snake lady like the one he had not five minutes ago. She was really very pretty. And it was... It was actually rather nice, especially when she had played along with it. He was overthinking this. 'Head in the game, Hunter.' He thought to himself. Now wasn't the time to think about that kind of thing. It was never the time to think about that kind of thing.

No matter. It was no concern of his right now unless it was an immediate threat. He saw an Ox bandit at a stall, demanding to be given items for free by the looks of it. Hunter had his next target. He masterfully moved through the crowd of people at the market, moving carefully and watching for any possible complications over the small crowd of marketgoers. Only one he could see. The stall owner. Not an issue with some persuasion on his part. He ended up behind the Ox and grabbed his horns before twisting his head, snapping his neck like had had the Wolves prior.

He then heard something. Twig snapping. Shocked gasp. Footfall too heavy to be a villager... With lightning fast speed, Hunter spun around and pointed his arm at the source and suddenly the Alligator who had apparently witnessed the kill had his blood and even some of his brain splattered over the wall behind him as he collapsed against it in a sitting position. Before the Ox's body even had a chance to fall to the floor, Hunter turned once more and scooped it up in bridal style and moved to the side swiftly, dumping it in some thick hedges where it would not been seen easily. He turned to the pig shopkeep and placed his finger on his mask where his lips would be, signifying silence. The pig nodded dumbly in agreement, not believing what he was seeing as Hunter went over to the other one and threw the body of the Alligator over the wall he'd collapsed against, hiding that too. The bloodstain was a worry, but he wasn't going to waste time scrubbing it. He retrieved the bolt he'd fired from what was revealed to be a wrist-mounted crossbow and replaced it, the auto-loading mechanism having already done it's duty and loaded the crossbow with another bolt as he reloaded the bolt he'd fired into the end of the mechanism.

The Furious Five, Master Shifu and Po all watched what unfolded in stunned silence as this stranger snapped an Ox's neck and silently shot an Alligator from distance, and then disposed of the Ox's body, all in one single smooth motion before proceeding to do the same with the Alligator's body. "Dude, this guy's like a total badass!" Po silently exclaimed in excitement to the others, looking to them and back to the stranger with wide eyes and an open mouth.

Viper ran her tongue over her mouth thoughtfully and smacked her 'lips' together. "He tasted like... Blood and death. As well as Noodle Soup with... A hint of genuine excitement and pleasure..." she spoke, finally having had time to taste his pheromones as well as his lips. "But whether that was because of the kiss or from doing this, I can't tell..." Viper said to them. "With an undertone of... Something I can't place..."