As dawn began to approach the Valley of Peace, Tigress started tossing and turning, waking up with a cry of pain when one of her broken ribs struck her chest. The master groaned and rubbed her eyes. On top of not being able to move from her bed, she hadn't been sleeping well. Two more weeks of this, she thought to herself, and I'll be so tired that one of the village kids can knock me over. She sat up straight, trying to not hurt herself even more than she already had, and glanced out the window. The gong wouldn't be going off for another hour or so, meaning that it would be even longer before one of the masters woke up. She decided to listen for Po since he had been getting up first for the past few days to help his dad. She didn't want to use the bell so early in the morning since everyone else was still asleep. Besides, she had every intention of using the bell mostly on Po since he was the only one out of all of them who had it sworn off as an enemy.

Serves him right for falling ontop of Shifu, she thought to herself. She decided that if she was truly to be bed-ridden for two weeks, she might as well make the most of it. A small grin curled up on her face as she thought about how much fun she was going to have with her new toy. The master almost laughed out loud as she pondered over how much Shifu would be regretting giving her the bell in the first place. I'll be lucky if he doesn't take it from me, she thought to herself. As she layed in bed waiting, she heard the familiar creak of the floorboard from Po getting up and about to go help Mr. Ping.

"Po," Tigress called over gently.

The creaking stopped for a moment and then the door opened wide to reveal the surprised panda.

"You're up early," he remarked. "Chest bothering you again?"

"When doesn't it?" Tigress muttered. "I haven't slept well since we left Gongmen City."

"Well, all of the long days ahead will be worth it when you're fully healed instead of partially healed," Po assured her with a smile.

"Yes, I'm sure it will," Tigress said. "I hate it, but it'll help." She stretched her arms, adding, "Since I was up and you were up and about, I was wondering if you might possibly bring me one of the crossbows from the training hall."

Po eyed her. "A crossbow?" he repeated sternly. "I thought Shifu said no kung fu."

"Well, he didn't say no crossbow practicing."

"Why do you want a crossbow? I hope you're not planning to shoot at anybody."

"It's for entertainment purposes," Tigress answered simply. "When one of them gets up, I expect more kung fu demonstrations otherwise I'll start using it."

Po did a double-take. "You're going to get our attention by shooting arrows at our heads?!" he exclaimed.

"I'll be aiming for the apple," Tigress assured him. "Not their head."

Po blinked, trying not to think about what would happen if she missed. "Um..." he said slowly. "Sure. I'll be ri-SHIFU!"

Monkey and Viper shushed him from inside his room as Crane called out,"I know! I'm trying to sleep!"

"Stop yelling and go to bed!" Mantis called over.

"Not necessary. I just yelled at them."

"Would you go back to bed?!"

"Would you two stop shouting?!" Monkey snapped back sleepily.

"You're not involved. Go to bed!" Crane told him.

"I can't if you're yelling half-way across the barracks!"

"Would you guys knock it off?" Viper asked.

"We would if Crane and Monkey would shut up!" Mantis snapped.

"HEY!" the two yelled.

"Alright, that's enough!" Shifu yelled, turning towards all of the noise. "If I hear one more peep over who won't be quiet, I'll knock you all out with a metal rod!"

When everyone stopped shouting and went back to bed, Shifu turned to Po and said, "You're not giving Tigress a crossbow arrow. Her chest needs to heal and as using a crossbow requires muscles in the chest area, that object is not going to be permitted in this room."

"But master!" Tigress protested quietly. "I need something else to do besides being entertained by other people!"

"Your health is my main concern right now," Shifu told her. "It may be uncomfortable, but it's necessary, so I will not allow you to do anything that will possibly make the breaks in your ribcage worse than it already is. Perhaps you can go back to sleep and ring for me or one of the five when you wake up again."

Mantis moaned from down the hall at that idea.

"I'll try," Tigress said dejectedly after a sigh. "But I don't know if my chest will let me do that."

"Just try. Sleep is really the best thing you can do right now."

The master sighed and laid down in her bed, doing as Shifu instructed. Po and Shifu then walked out of the room and out of the barracks.

"Sorry for having to bring you into this," Po apologized. "I didn't mean to wake everyone up and get you involved with cross-bow arguments."

"It's perfectly fine," Shifu assured him. "I figured that she'd try something like that. She loves kung fu more than anything, so the fact that she would trick you into giving her a cross-bow doesn't surprise me."

"Thanks for understanding."

"No problem, Dragon Warrior. Now I'm going to head over to the Dragon Grotto. Do whatever you were planning on doing today, and under no circumstances are you to bring her any weapons to use."

"Yes, master."

Po then turned to head down towards the noodle shop as Shifu headed up towards the Wu Dang mountains towards the grotto. He went down the stairs and walked towards Ping's Noodle Shop, getting ready to start another day with his dad.

About an hour later, the light from the rising sun woke a restless Tigress back out of a light sleep. She sat up again with a moan, already bored. She could hear the gentle snores coming from the rooms of her friends, some of them stirring around. The master waited for another half hour before she heard Monkey rise from his bed and start to head out into the hallway. The master then reached over and rang her bell as loudly as she could, waking the others up with a moan.

"Tigress!" Viper complained from next door. "It's early in the morning!"

"Well, I'm an early riser," Tigress reminder. "And as an early riser, I'm normally out and about. I'm sorry to disturb you, but as I am denied training, I need something to occupy my time."

Monkey creaked over to her room and walked over to her. "Yes?" he asked wearily.

"I'd like something to eat, if you don't mind."

The primate nodded and closed the door. Tigress heard the rest of the masters moaning as they got up and started to walk out of the barracks. Mantis started muttering about how he wondered if the bell was a bad idea.

Afraid so. Tigress thought to herself.

To further prove Mantis' point, Tigress used her bell nearly every five seconds. Once one of the five would sit down and get comfortable, they would hear the ear-piercing ring from the bell calling for them to serve the bed-ridden tigress. After serving her breakfast, the masters were then called to fluff her pillow, perform some kung fu, tell her a story, grab her an apple from the market, demonstrate some weapons, scratch her back, inform her on how they were feeling as far as their former injuries were concerned, (Crane's wing had just about healed, meaning that he was ready to get back into action when training started the next week), and so on so forth. When Po came back to the Jade Palace later that afternoon, he was greeted with a bunch of groaning masters as well as the irritatingly familiar sound of the bell.

"How long has she been ringing that thing?!" Po exclaimed, covering his ears.

"All day!" Monkey complained. "We haven't had any chance to relax because she won't stop ringing it!"

The bell stopped ringing for a second, allowing the masters to let out a sigh of relief.

"Wanna' spin the Jade Tortoise around again?" Po offered.

"Sure!" Monkey replied. "If it means not having to listen to that bell."

Crane stumbled over to the best friends, extremely tired. "She wants to know when dinner is," he moaned. "I made Mantis stay by the barracks so that I don't have to walk all the way back over."

"Later," Po answered. "I want to chill with my friends. Where's Viper?"

"She went to the jewelers sometime after lunch in order to escape the bell noises for a while," Monkey told him. "She should be back any min-"

The bell rang across the grounds again causing the boys to groan.

"SHE'S GETTING IMPATIENT!" Mantis screamed from across the barracks.

"Tell her Po will cook once we're done relaxing for a second!" Crane yelled back.

The boys started to head towards the training hall when the bell rang again.

"WHY?!" Monkey bawled, sinking to his knees.

"SHE WANTS TO KNOW IF PO'S RETURNED!" Mantis yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Tell her I'm still in the village!" Po called over.

After a minute, Mantis answered with, "SHE SAID SHE HEARD YOU!"

Po let out an exasperated moan as the bell rang again.

"SHE WANTS YOU TO COME OVER!"

"But I just got back!" Po whined.

"What in the world is going on?!" came Shifu as he returned from the mountains and overheard the boys complaining.

"SHIFU!" Monkey exclaimed. He ran over and hugged the master. "Thank goodness you're back! You've got to get her to stop!!!!!!"

"Get who to stop?!" Shifu demanded. "What are you all upset about?!"

"Tigress has been ringing that bell every five seconds since she woke us out of a sound sleep this morning. If we have to hear that bell one more time, we're going-"

The bell rang again, causing the boys to let out annoyed cries.

"SHE WANTS TO KNOW WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG!" Mantis yelled.

Po groaned. "I'm coming," he mumbled, walking over towards the barracks. He was really glad that he hadn't been there for most of the day, otherwise he'd get frustrated from all of that ringing as well. Shifu followed him so as to get a clear idea as to what was going on. The two walked into Tigress' room where she did a small double-take upon seeing Shifu. However, she merely turned to Po and said, "How was your dad?"

A little surprised, Po said, "He's fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well I can't get up and walk around, so I have to make inquires."

"Oh, alright."

"Tigress," Shifu said sternly. "The other five say that you've been ringing that bell nonstop all day today. Is this true?"

Tigress bowed her head," Yes," she admitted.

"Tigress, the bell is to get our attention as an alternative to yelling. It's not a toy."
"I understand, master, and I apologize for any inconvenience."

"Good. Now dinner will be ready in about an hour and a half, so let everyone have some time to themselves before you ring it."

"Yes, master."

Shifu then left the room, Tigress letting out a sigh. "And I was having fun torturing you all with this," she said quietly.

"Well that bell does get annoying," Po told her.

"Well it isn't fun being cooped up in my room all by myself-" Tigress started, but realizing what she was saying, she quickly backtracked with, "without anyone to beat up."

Po caught what she said though and said with a smile, "You feel lonely?"

"No," Tigress corrected. "I just don't like not being able to do kung fu."

"You said you hated being cooped up in your room by yourself."

"Because kung fu is my life and with no one to spar with and with nothing to do, I get bored."

Po eyed her. "Mmhmm," he scoffed with a smirk.

"Shouldn't you be making dinner?" Tigress said quickly. "I'm starving."

"I'm working on it," Po told her, slipping back out of the room.

Tigress watched him leave before she smacked her head against the wall. It's not fun being cooped up by myself?! she thought to herself. I sound like a lonely and desperate child! She sighed and straightened the blankets on her bed, getting herself comfortable. The master glanced over at her trunk where her ink and papers were. She reached over and rang the bell, knowing how everyone would react if she tried to get out of bed again. A few minutes later, Shifu appeared in the doorway.

"Yes, Tigress?" he asked.

"Could you get my ink and papers out of my trunk, please?"
Shifu nodded and went over to the trunk. "Thank you for not getting out of bed," he said, handing her her things.

"Well, that hasn't been the easiest task," Tigress admitted.

Shifu started to walk out of the door. "Dinner will be ready soon," he promised.

When the door was shut, Tigress took out her things to draw. She felt one of the bones from her ribcage grind loosely against another loose one in her chest. She winced in pain, but managed to find a comfortable spot to relax. She layed in her bed and wrote and drew until Po came in about a half hour later with a steaming bowl of stir-fried noodles with sweet and sour sauce and a cup of hot tea.

"Company," he called, coming into the room.

"Don't you mean dinner bell?" Tigress asked.

"Well, you wanted people to keep you company since you got lonely," Po said.

"I said no such thing," Tigress answered stiffly.

"Yes you did," Po told her with a smile. "And I can understand. You have to stay in one spot all day with no communication unless you call someone or they bring you food-"

"I'm not lonely," Tigress repeated. "I'm just bored."

"Riiiiiight," Po said, walking over and handing the master food. "Bored."

"I'm being serious."

"I'm sure you are. Although if you just wanted company, we could have all come in and talked for a few hours instead of doing nonstop kung fu for that period of time."

"The Dragon Warrior who can't keep up with kung fu?" Tigress said in fake shock. "I hope you haven't gone soft in that area."

"Hey, I've always been a softie," Po protested with a grin. "Now enjoy your food. If you need anything or if you just want to talk, we'll be in the kitchen."

"Thank you for offering, but I'll be just fine."

Po shrugged his shoulders. "Suit yourself," he said. And with that he walked back out of the room, leaving Tigress to eat her dinner.

When Tigress finished, she layed the tray next to her and settled down uncomfortably in bed. She then attempted to get some sleep, hoping that with more time to heal, her ribs would eventually stop bothering her. After aboout an hour had gone by, she started drifting off when she heard her door creak open.

"Tigress?" came Po's voice.

Just pretend your asleep, Tigress told herself. And he won't start asking if you want company.

Po creaked across the floor over towards the bed and Tigress heard him pick up her tray. "Good night, Tigress," she heard. More creaking and then the door shut and the floorboards squeaked as he left the barracks. Tigress tried to go back to bed, but she still couldn't believe herself. I hated being by myself? she thought in irritation. Never in my life would I have dared to say that to anyone! I am Master Tigress! I keep my emotions to myself for the betterment of those I am trying to protect! Not only was that childish, it was sappy and desperate!

Tigress had a lot of trouble sleeping over that thing that she had told Po, and the only thing she could think of to do was to backtrack what she had said. I implied that I was lonely! I am not lonely! I can handle myself! I don't need people to come and talk to me! And I can prove it! I'll show Po that I don't need company! Hopefully he hasn't blabbed to anyone what I said.