The Countdown

Separated

No one at the Jade Palace noticed that Tigress and Po were trying to avoid each other as that day continued on, mostly because they were exhausted from training and everyone went right to bed after dinner. The following day however, it started becoming noticeable. Instead of sitting next to each other or a chair over, Po and Tigress would sit as far away from each other as they possibly could. They didn't do anymore nightly training to improve their skills; they only trained together whenever they got paired up to spar. If one would run into the other in the hallway, they would simply say nothing and continue walking. And they hardly were in the same area at one time unless it was for dinner, training, or just rummaging around looking for something to do. Viper, who was a little worried they had gotten into a fight, asked Tigress a few days later what was going on, but Tigress assured her that everything was perfectly fine and told her of the plan her and Po had. When asked how long Tigress intended to avoid Po, the master admitted that she wasn't quite sure, but long enough for the rumor about them dating to die down. Viper addressed her concerns to her friend about this issue, but left it alone and let Tigress and Po deal with the problem.

Three weeks followed after the rumor was first started. The rumor had died down after the first week of existing, but much to everyone's surprise, Po and Tigress continued to avoid each other. Shifu supposed it was to avoid more rumors starting, but he had to admit to himself that it was a bit overdone. Over the course of three weeks, Mei-Ling and Shifu continued to meet in the cabin Shifu owned, (and only got caught once by Tigress who accidentally found them in a passionate kiss by the palace gates). Po got a little more comfortable with his dad and Scorpion dating and the insect even began to earn more trust from the villagers, especially when she opened up a small clinic so that she could get back to being a healer again. Mantis and Quan-Ying broke up a week after getting back together due to Mantis getting annoyed that she made time for the other guys in the village and never for him, (but then the two apologized and started dating again two days later). Viper and Crane continued to secretly date, a bit surprised no one had found out about it, but happy that they at least got some privacy. Monkey and Mantis finally laid off of the teasing seeing as none of their methods would work in bringing anyone together and they went back to just doing bets.

Tigress tried her best to remove any feelings of "infatuation" for Po out of her mind, but nothing she did, meditating, training, punching iron wood trees, and even yelling at herself, could make the symptoms go away. If anything, they actually got worse. Having minimum contact with Po did assist with watering down the rumor, but it did nothing to help the master completely obliterate the symptoms she was getting. Tigress was initially relieved to go through a few days without her cheeks turning fire red, her stomach getting majorly queasy, or time nearly freezing because she and Po happened to lock eyes. However, as a few days turned into a week, and then two, and finally to three, Tigress found herself feeling...empty. She really missed one-on-one training with her friend. She noticed he didn't smile as much, although it was hard to tell since she hardly saw him. She would occasionally reminisce over the various times they fooled around and how he actually got her to laugh. While she didn't enjoy getting caught participating in such activities, it was fun to let loose and have a blast like that. While they were sporadic, they were memories she couldn't help but ponder over whenever she would meditate. The master also had some trouble sleeping. She knew she was missing a friend to talk to, someone to confide in besides Viper who she noticed liked to add a particularly girly flair to everything. Tigress would feel bad about avoiding Po and there were even nights where she felt like flying across the hallway to wrap him in a hug and call off the plan. But she felt it necessary to vanquish any hints or seeds of rumors, so she had stuck to it and tried her best to bury her feelings deep within her.

Po was also struggling to avoid Tigress. The master cared about her deeply. He felt bonded to her, even more than he did with his best friend, Monkey. They fought together, trained together, laughed together, and even shared sporadic goofy moments together. And now they couldn't. Po couldn't help but feel that part of it was his own fault. Perhaps if he had been more insistent with his dad and left Tigress out of their family dinner or perhaps if he had forewarned his dad every time she came into the noodle shop, there would be no more awkwardness in even having a conversation. But what was done was done and he couldn't go back to fix it. He missed making up training moves with her and then using them to fight off bandits who would approach the valley. He missed trying to get her to laugh or just spending time with her and confiding things in her. After their battle at Gongmen City, he became more willing to talk about his personal life and about things that were bothering him, knowing that his friends weren't going to judge him because he may have had unwarrior-like problems. Tigress, who was a lot like him in that manner, (sort of), was one person he didn't mind talking to about those certain things. Talking to her or helping her with her own problems made him feel special and he cherished those moments he spent with her. But now those moments were over; Tigress was trying to avoid him and the other way around because of awkward rumors spreading around to ruin their friendship and nothing Po did made him feel better.