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

Chapter 17: Poking The Lion

Po sullenly walked into the kitchen to find the Five at the table waiting on him to arrive and make their food, as well as Master Shifu himself. "Po! Good to see you. I was worried that Mantis might have to cook." Shifu said to the Panda, his tone serious, but his look conveying mischief his words did not...

It worked as intended as Mantis gasped in indignation. "Master Shifu! Are you saying I can't cook?!" he asked the old Master incredulously, shocked that he would say such a thing.

Monkey chuckled at his friend's reaction to Shifu. "No offence pal, but you cannot cook." he agreed with Shifu on that, teasing Mantis a little bit more. "I'd rather trust Tai Lung in the kitchen than you."

Mantis looked to the others for backup. "Guys! You have my back right?!" he asked Viper, Crane, Tigress and Po. "You know I can cook!"

Tigress was the first to speak up. "No comment." she simply stated to Mantis in response.

Viper held her tail up. "I abstain." she stated.

Crane nodded at Viper's reaction. "Ditto."

Mantis sighed in frustration and looked over to Po. "Po, come on, the great Dragon Warrior has my back, right???" he asked before seeing Po's downcast look as he stood in front of the cooking equipment, leading to concerned looks from everyone present as he seemingly ignored Mantis.

Shifu cocked his brow in confusion at his student's demeanour. "Po? Is everything alright?" he asked with mild concern in his voice.

Po seemed shaken from his stupor then and got to work cooking the food. "Oh! Oh, err yeah, sorry, I was just... Errm... Thinking." he chuckled to everyone as he quickly began work on breakfast. He was cooking Zongzi currently with walnut fillings, or walnut and tofu fillings for Tigress.

Everyone at the table looked at one another. "About...?" Monkey gestured for him to continue further with the explanation.

Po seemed unsure as to whether to say anything, but decided it wouldn't do any harm to discuss what had happened with the Five and Shifu. "It's just The Hunter, he-"

Po was cut off by Tigress who stood up from her seat very suddenly. "What did that beast say or do to you?!" she asked with a vicious snarl on her face, apparently ready to confront him right now if needs be. The rest of the Five and Shifu all looked in slight shock at her readiness to go after him, although after this morning they supposed it made sense...

Po turned around and shook his head. "No no, he didn't do anything! It's just that I tried to convince him to eat breakfast with us outside earlier..." he spoke and Tigress wearily sat back down in her seat, guessing Hunter rejected Po's offer that led to him feeling disappointed. Honestly she thought the rejection was worthy of a celebration more than anything else. "You can guess his response. And it looks like he's already decided he's leaving at the end of the week." Po added with disappointment evident in his voice as he went back to cooking the rice and preparing the stuffing with less enthusiasm than usual, although from the looks of it Tigress was slightly pleased at this news.

Shifu's ears dipped lower at hearing that in sadness. Hunter was about as good at Tigress at shielding his emotions from others, but despite his valiant attempts to hide it, he could sense the pain within the man. He'd hoped that Hunter might be considering his offer at the very least... He had the makings of a great Kung Fu Master within him. Seeing him punish himself so harshly reminded Shifu of himself, and of course Tigress as well in many ways... Of course, he and Tigress had made great strides in working through their pain and finding their inner peace, with Shifu having achieved such peace, and Tigress was well on the way to doing so herself. Hunter however had seemingly accepted his pain as a fact of life with no end to it in sight. Shifu wished Oogway were here to guide him, and to continue helping Hunter in ways he felt only Master Oogway could.