The masters at the Jade Palace were relieved to see Po and Tigress interacting with each other again like they used to do. That following morning after they called off their scheme, Mantis was greeted by the sight of Po teaching Tigress how to cook. (Resulting with him getting paid ten yuan). Shifu was simply glad that things had gone back to normal and that things would resume they way they had been prior to the rumor starting in the valley. Tigress, who was also glad that she was hanging out with Po again and vanquishing the lonely feeling she got, still struggled with vanquishing the other emotion she believed to be a simple infatuation. She and Po were very good friends and worked very well together in a battle and she wanted to keep it that way. They had just strengthened their bond after a course of three years and she didn't want to damage it in any way because of some random symptoms she was getting. And thus, she set to the task of making them go away.

3 months later....

Tigress wrapped herself up tighter in her blanket, trying to go back to sleep. Master Shifu had allowed them to sleep in that one morning since they had been training hard and had done an excellent job mastering the new equipment in the training hall. (Well, Po was still struggling with The Blushing Spikes of Impending Demise, but he was better to the point where he didn't slip off and injure himself on the spikes). The fierce master, while she would have preferred to be in the training hall, she had to admit that it did feel nice to rest her muscles for a bit. She had woken up earlier that morning to the sound of the gong, but had opted to go back to sleep instead of train, just for today. Tigress was now beginning to drift back off into sleep, her brain depicting memories of snuggling against Po by the peach tree months earlier, only for her door to slam open and for her to hear a loud, "TIME TO GET UP!!!!!!!!"

Tigress jumped with a start, looking at the dent in the wall Po had made by slamming her doors open.

"Hey, you're actually asleep," Po said with surprise, pausing in the door frame.

"And you're up rather early," Tigress retaliated simply, getting up from her bed.

"It's festival time!" Po exclaimed. "Well, not yet. But soon. And there's so much to do that I just couldn't sleep! come on! You're helping me make a festival breakfast!"

The master rolled her eyes with a small smile and got up to follow him. Po had been trying to teach her, (and some days, force teach her), how to cook and over the days, she had slowly gotten better. While she wasn't great at the task, she was able to cook a decent meal on her own and work together with Po to make a really good one. Po told her often that she was getting really good, but Tigress didn't think her meals tasted nearly as good as Po's did, so she wasn't quite sure what he meant by that.

The two warriors arrived in the kitchen and Po began to direct Tigress to various tasks to perform in the kitchen. She helped to boil the water, chop vegetables, cook noodles, and help Po to make several moon cakes. As they finished and set everything on the table, she asked, "Why are we making moon cakes. These are for dessert."

"We're hosting a festival for the end of the summer," Po exclaimed happily, pouring some tea into a few cups. "We need something different for breakfast."

Tigress shrugged. "Whatever you say, Po," she answered.

The two sat down at the table where they began to dig in and also await the arrival of their hungry friends.

"So, what are your plans for today?" Po asked. "Are you going to the festival?"

"I don't know," the master admitted. "I do have to run errands though; Master Shifu wants me to pick up some lanterns."

"What for?" Po asked.

"I'm not quite sure," Tigress admitted. "He didn't say. What are you doing today?"

"I have  to help my dad and Scorpion set up for the festival," Po replied. "So I'll probably be gone all day."

"I suppose it's a good thing Master Shifu gave us today off then."

"You got that right!"

After a few minutes passed by, the rest of the masters trickled into the kitchen where they were happy to see a nice buffet of food on the table.

"Moon cakes?!" Mantis exclaimed. "For breakfast?! It's too good to be true!!!!"

"I thought something really tasty for breakfast would be perfect for the festival," Po replied.

"Oh, that's right," Monkey said. "I forgot the festival was today!"

Po choked on his tea. "How could you forget about the festival?!" he exclaimed.

"Probably because he's too busy getting caught up in his betting wars over couples who don't exist," Tigress answered flatly.

Viper and Po held back a laugh as Monkey looked angrily over at the master. "I've also been training my butt off," he told her. "And I forgot. It happens."

"I trained hard too. I didn't forget."

Monkey  held out a hand towards Mantis who groaned and forked over fifteen yuan.

"My  point exactly," Tigress countered, not in the mood to know what exactly they were betting about.

"Seriously guys?" Crane asked in annoyance. "Can you not do that at the table?!"

"Sure," Monkey answered, putting the bag away.

"So..." Po called over, hoping to change the subject. "Are any of you guys going to the festival?"

"And wear fancy new stuff for the end of the summer?" Viper asked. "I'm in!"

"I don't know if I'll "dress up", but I don't mind wearing something a little different," Monkey replied.

"Wait, is dressing up necessary?" Tigress asked curiously.

"Haven't you ever gone to one of these things before?" Po asked her in surprise.

"No."

"Oh, well you don't have to dress up; just wear something bright or something that reminds you of the summer. I pretty much wear the same thing except for a hat dad got me a few years ago."

"Are you going, Tigress?" Viper asked.

"Possibly. I'll have to wait and see how I feel about it."

"Aw, come on, Tigress!" Monkey exclaimed. "You hardly ever go to these things."

"I don't dress up,"Tigress answered flatly. "And even if I did, I only have the same thing I've worn every day."

Po looked at her funny. "What about-" he began, but Tigress cut him off by announcing that she was heading out. She took her empty dishes and washed them out before walking out of the kitchen without another word. Po blinked as a hushed silence fell over the room. "That was weird," he noted.

"I thought she had that shirt you got her," Crane piped up.

"She should. I specifically remember her saying she gave it back for a bigger size."

"Maybe she forgot?" Mantis offered.

Po shrugged. "Maybe," he said.

He began to finish his breakfast, Viper looking around the table and asking, "What about you Mantis? Are you going?"

"Yep," came the answer. "I'm taking Quan-Ying as my date."

"That's nice," Crane told them. "I might go, if I can find the green pants I have."

"Even if you can't find them," Viper said. "You can still go."

Po finished up his food and went to wash the dishes. "You guys doing anything beforehand or no?" he asked.

"I saw a new pair of hair lotuses I like," Viper answered immediately, eating her moon cake. "So I'll be down in the village."

"Crane and I are just going to laze about," Monkey answered. "And  then he's got other plans later."

"Other plans?" Mantis asked slyly.

"I'm drawing the new training hall," Crane told him irritably.

"Oh," the bug said, slightly disappointed.

Po finished what he was doing as everyone finally finished their food and began to head out. "Catch you guys later!" he called.

"Bye, Po!" called his friends as he went down to the village.

The Dragon Warrior then made his way down to his dad's noodle shop, passing by the villagers as they began to prepare for the festival. As he approached the noodle shop, he nearly ran into Tigress who was slumping her way around in a slightly irritated mood.

"Tigress?" Po asked in surprise. "What's the matter? Wait-more bad rumors?"

Tigress let out a laugh. "Fortunately no," she said gratefully. She returned to her normal scowl and added, "But I'll just say this; it's impossible to get any lanterns around here!"

"Are all the shops sold out?"

"And a few of them are closed and refuse to do any deals."

Po thought for a moment. "Hmm..." he said. "Why don't we try dad? I'm sure he'll let you borrow a few lanterns. I just hope Shifu doesn't plan to use them forever."

"I'm sure he'll only use them temporarily."

The two then proceeded to head to the noodle shop where they found it closed as well as Mr. Ping excitedly preparing for the upcoming festivities. When he caught sight of Po and Tigress, he let out a happy cry of joy.

"Oh, son! There you are! And it's so nice to see you too, Master Tigress! What brings you both here?"

"I was wondering if I could borrow some of your lanterns, Mr. Ping," Tigress told him. "Master Shifu needs them for something."

"Absolutely!" Mr. Ping exclaimed happily. "They're downstairs in the cellar next to the flour sacks in the back. Just don't take any more than eight and be sure to return them!"

"Of course."

Tigress made her way into the cellar, looking up for a brief moment as she remembered getting locked in the cellar the last time she had gone down there. When she was gone and out of earshot, Mr. Ping glanced over at Po who was gathering some ingredients together for the chocolate cake they were making.

"Nothing special between you two yet?" he asked.

"Daaad!" Po complained, combining some flour and sugar together.

"I'm just asking," the old goose protested, throwing more vegetables into the soup.

"It's fine to ask," Po told him. "But not when she's right here in the noodle shop!"

"Oh, she can't hear us," Mr. Ping assured him. "She's all the way in the back of the cellar. I can talk about your potential love life."

"Say what now?" came Tigress' voice from the opening of the cellar door.

Po jumped in alarm and let out a cry of surprise. "Tigress!" he exclaimed. "I was...we weren't....How much of that did you hear?"

"I came upstairs and I heard you discussing something about a potential love interest," Tigress replied. "Are you bringing someone to the festival?"

"Huh? Oh, no! No, no, no! We were just...dad's just being dad, that's  all!"

"There are a lot of girls who are interested in Po around here," Mr. Ping added, playing along for Po's sake. "And he's had two good ones he's passed up and I just wanted to make sure he settles down so I can see my grand-kids before I die."

Tigress chuckled. "Well, I'm sure he'll be fine," she assured the old goose. "I trust Po won't have too much of a problem with that minus the whole "Dragon-Warrior-step-down" problem he has."

"Don't remind me," Po grumbled.

"Anyway, thanks for the lanterns, Mr. Ping. I'll let Shifu know they have to be returned."

"Thank you!" Mr. Ping called over to her. "I'll see you later at the festival!"

Tigress then rounded the corner and left the noodle shop, Po slapping a paw to his head. "Grand-kids, dad?" he asked. "You had to bring that up?"

"Well, I would like to have grand-kids before I die of old age!" Mr. Ping told him firmly. "We've talked about this before. Which reminds me: what do you think your kids would look like if you had them with Tigress?"

"DAAAAAD!"

Mr. Ping laughed. "I'm just teasing you, Po. Relax!"

Po groaned. "I hope you don't make remarks like that in front of the customers," he told him.

"After that rumor that spread," Mr. Ping assured him. "I've made sure to keep such comments to myself."

"Thanks."

Tigress, in the meantime, had gone back up the Thousand Steps and to the Sacred Hall of Warriors where she intercepted Master Shifu and gave him the lanterns. She then explained to him that the lanterns had  to be returned, Shifu telling her that it was fine since he didn't need the lanterns for long. The master then went to her room where she wanted to meditate. She was going to go to the training hall, but since she didn't want to be disturbed, she figured that would be the first place her friends would look for her and she opted to go to the barracks instead. The master went to sit on her bed, crossing her legs and doing her best to meditate and keep herself together. She remembered feeling a brief moment of panic when she had been told by Mr. Ping that Po had potential love interests, but quickly told herself it was fine since she didn't love him anyway.

So why did that idea still hurt her?

Tigress concentrated her thoughts on kung fu, on remaining hard core, on the fact that her and Po were friends and that she had no romantic interest in him whatsoever. She focused on her meditation long and hard so as to help her obliterate the feelings that were welling up within her. In fact, the master was concentrating on it so much that she didn't realize how much time had gone by until she was startled by Po opening her door and calling out, "Tigre-oh!"

The master jumped in startledness and looked over at her friend.

"Sorry!" Po apologized. "Didn't realize you were meditating!"

"It's fine," Tigress assured him, standing up. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Po answered. "But I wanted to let you know it's time for the festival."

"Oh," came the reply.

The Dragon Warrior gave a sad frown. "Aren't you going?" he asked.

"I..." Tigress started. "I don't know."

"You don't know? Wait...is it because you don't have anything bright? You could borrow some of my stuff! Oh, wait, probably not. My clothes probably won't fit you...and I don't have any tops.... Oh, what about that shir-"

"I think I'll be fine going like this," Tigress told him quickly, putting a paw on his shoulder to keep him from going around her room rummaging for things. "And if not, there's always next year."

"Don't you have anything that reminds you of the summer?" Po asked her.

"No. I...I can go, but I probably won't look very festive."

Po sighed and thought about that. Then an idea came to him. He could just buy her another shirt. (Since he apparently couldn't find the one he gave her in a bigger size). "Oh, wait! Hang on, I'll be back!" he exclaimed, turning to leave.

Seeing the trunk right in front of him, Tigress called out to warn the panda of the impending danger, but Po tripped over the trunk anyway and fell over, causing it to topple and spill all of its contents out. The master went to help her friend to his feet. "Po, are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

The Dragon Warrior groaned and rubbed the sore spot on his leg. "I'm fine," he assured her. He looked at the mess on the floor and added, "But I can't say the same about your room. Let me fix this."

Tigress started panicking and began to help clean up the master as fast as she could. "No, no, it's fine!" she said anxiously. "I...I like my stuff in a certain order, so let me just get all of this and you go on ahead!"

Po began to pick the trunk up when he caught sight of a familiar yellow fabric. He picked it up and turned to Tigress who had frozen in panic when she saw he found it. Po's face turned blank, unable to be read. He looked over the shirt and then over at Tigress and said, "I thought you said it didn't fit. This is the same shirt I got you."

"U-u-uh," Tigress stammered.

"This shirt fits you fine!" Po yelled. "If you didn't like it, why did you lie to me?!"

"This has nothing to do with liking the shirt," Tigress told him nervously, putting her stuff back into the truck and grabbing the garment out of Po's paws. She clutched it and said, "Look, Po, it is a nice shirt. Really. But...I just can't wear it."

"Can't or won't?" Po asked her seriously.

"Both."

The panda eyed her as she threw the shirt back into the trunk and pushed it against the wall where it had been. "Why?" he asked curiously.

"None of your business."

"Aw, come on, Tigress!"

"I don't want to talk about it!"

Po watched her sit silently on her bed before an idea formed in his mind. He walked over to her and said, "Want to fight about it?"

Tigress looked at him funny. "Come again?" she asked.

"Training hall. Now. You and me in an epic sparring match."

Tigress pressed her back to the wall. "I'll pass," she answered.

Po responded by lifting her bed up and thrusting it against the wall, knocking the master off along with it. "How about now?" he asked her.

Tigress retaliated by lunging at him which caused the panda to run for his life out of the barracks.

"Just wait until I kick your butt!" the master yelled, sprinting after him.

The two stayed in their chase until they reached the training hall, Po trying to reach the doors of the building before he ran out of steam. Tigress lunged onto the gate and jumped on top of him where they both rolled across the grounds and collided into the stairs.

"OW!" Po cried, clutching his head in pain.

Tigress had bumped her forehead and was tending to her own wound as well. "Sorry," she apologized. She grew stern and added, "But don't ever throw me off of my bed again."

"Why?" Po asked, trying to catch his breath. "Afraid that I'll......beat you?"

Tigress smirked. "Beat me?" she asked. "Lets settle that inside."

Po did a silent fist bump and got up to follow her into the training hall. The two opened the doors only to see Crane and Viper making out right in front of them.

"Crane?!" Po exclaimed in surprise.

The two warriors broke away from their kiss and turned in slight embarrassment to see their friends' shocked expressions. "Um...please don't tell Monkey," Crane begged.

"Or Mantis," Viper added nervously.

"How long has this been going on?" Tigress asked, recovering from her initial surprise.

"About four months," Viper answered. "We're trying to keep it secret so that we don't hear any noise from those two."

"Understandable," Po acknowledged. "We'll keep it quiet."

"Thanks, Po," Crane said. He glanced outside and noticed how dark it had gotten and added, "Is it almost time to go?"

"Yeah, Tigress and I are doing some quick sparring before we head down."

"Sounds like a plan," Viper told them, slithering out of the training hall. "I'll go change my lotuses and I'll meet you guys down there in a few."

"I'll just get my drawing stuff and sneak out after her," Crane said, getting his stuff and leaving alongside the master. He shut the training hall door, leaving Tigress and Po to ponder what just happened.

"Okay," Po said. "Truth bomb, I was not expecting that."

"They did a pretty good job of keeping that quiet," Tigress acknowledged. "I can't recall anything suspicious from those two. Minus Viper randomly appearing by the peach tree, but that didn't really seem suspicious to me."

"Same," said the panda. He stood there a moment, tapping the sides of his pants. "So..." he continued. "Now that it's just the two of us, are we-OOF!"

Tigress, having gotten over her initial shock, took the initiative to kick Po across the training grounds where he skidded to a  halt right in front of the Blushing Spikes of Impending Demise.

"Hey, come on, Tigress!" he whined. "I wasn't ready!"

"Lesson one, expect the unexpected," Tigress reminded him, leaping over to his spot. She grinned and added, "Ready for lesson two?"

"Does lesson two involve me kicking your butt?" Po asked, standing up and getting into position.

"Guess we'll have to find out, won't we, Dragon Warrior?"

"Bring it!"

The two began to spar viciously, Tigress swiping and punching Po and Po managing to block her and go to drop kick her a few times. They kept hitting and blocking and ducking and even attempting to use weapons on the other, Tigress using each of the different training equipment to her advantage. She almost had the Dragon Warrior on Earthen Marks of Eternity, but he managed to keep himself balanced on the swinging wooden balls and actually knocked Tigress across the training hall. The master came back at him to punch him in the face, but Po ducked and blocked a double kick that came his way.

"So, what's wrong with the shirt then?" Po asked her cautiously, noticing how much harder her punches got upon him asking the question. "Ow! Paw!"

"Nothing!" Tigress lied, grabbing his arm and flinging him into the Fiery Field of Death. Po dodged the incoming flames as Tigress darted onto the field to continue fighting him.

"You lied about taking it back and now you're saying you can't wear it," Po reminded her sternly. "So what are you hiding from me?"

"I'm not hiding anything!"

"I stand here and spar you all night if I have to."

"That would be a waste of your time, Dragon Warrior," Tigress warned him, kicking him in the chest and running towards him at full speed. She tried to lunge at him, put Po rolled out of the way and kicked her in the leg, causing her to trip and land the other way. Tigress came back at him and yelled, "You'll miss the festival."

"The festival isn't fun when I know one of my friends isn't happy about wearing something I got for her because I was trying to be nice!" Po snapped, catching a punch and tossing Tigress over his shoulder.

"Says the panda who's never gotten mocked about his status because of what he was wearing!" Tigress screamed.

Po dodged a kick which landed Tigress face first on the field. "Wait, what?" he asked in slight shock.

Tigress went to stand up, a ring of fire bubbling beneath her as she did so. Before it went off, Po leaped over and shoved her out of the way, narrowly avoiding a third degree burn for them both. The two landed smack in the side wall of the training arena where Tigress sat and tried to avoid Po's gaze.

"People made fun of you because you wore a different shirt color?" Po asked, repeating what she had said.

"It wasn't exactly the color," Tigress told him. "But it might have helped, I guess."

"What happened?"

The master sighed, slightly calmer from the exercise, and said, "I was thirteen. I was in that stage where I kept growing every five seconds and I wound up outgrowing everything I owned. I didn't have anything to wear, so Shifu had to keep going down to the village to get me new stuff. One time, they were out of those red shirts I normally wear, so he got me some different ones: one was short sleeved and green with a white outline of a tree, another one was long sleeved and yellow with a yin-yang pattern on the side, and the third was long sleeved and sky blue with a rose pattern. I preferred the green one since I was used to short sleeves, but it still felt weird to not wear red. Anyway, one day, there was an attack in the village and I was wearing the yellow shirt. I tried to make sure I always wore green when I went down there because it looked like my other shirt, but that day I only had the yellow one. At the time, it was just Crane and I. Monkey came shortly afterwards. That aside, we were down in the valley fighting and the bandits I was trying to battle kept telling me that I was a waste of time to battle and they kept going after Crane."

"A waste of time?"

"Yeah. I didn't know why they were saying that, but after we quickly defeated them, they kept making comments about how they didn't consider me a worthy adversary because I was too pretty and that my shirt made me look hot rather than fierce. And they kept asking how I was supposed to be taken seriously looking like a girl."

Po scratched his head. "But you are a girl," he noted.

"The point is that the shirt I wore didn't make me look tough enough and I got humiliated for it!' Tigress argued. "I wore my regular qipao after that and I haven't worn another styled shirt since then."

"Wow," Po said slowly.

"But it's not like you'd understand," Tigress added harshly. "You've never had that problem!"

"Of course I have," Po told her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "I've never been looked down on because of my clothes, but I've been judged by my looks. Remember?"

The master turned a dark shade of red as she recalled the various times she had misjudged Po and treated him coldly due to her belief that he couldn't amount to the warrior everyone kept saying he would be. "Right," she said quietly. "I forgot."

"But," Po continued. "As time went by and you guys got to know me better and I got better at kicking butts, more people recognized that I could be pretty deadly and that I'm not just a big fat panda. Especially now that I'm 260 and not almost 300 pounds."

Tigress let out a light laugh. "And anyone who judges you regrets it later," she added.

"Exactly! Yeah, it was pretty mean that those bandits didn't take you seriously, but look at you now! You're so much better at kung fu than you were then and everyone who sees you knows you shouldn't be messed with because you're kung fu is so ferocious! I'm sure if you wore that shirt again, no one would think any less of you."

The tiger master let out a sigh. "I don't know, Po," she said.

"You never know unless you try...."

A long silence went by before she finally replied, "Alright. But just for today. And if someone decides me wearing a "girly" shirt is funny, you're doing my chores for a week."

Po shrugged. "If you insist," he answered. He then rolled his eyes and gave her a grin. "And that shirt isn't girly," he added. "It looks awesome and fit for any warrior. If it was girly, it'd be pink."

"It has a pink flower on it."

"Just one!"

"The sleeves have a pink design on them."

"Okay, are you going to complain about the shirt all night, or are you just trying to guilt-trip me?"

Tigress rolled her eyes and gently slugged his shoulders. "I'll be back."

"Awesome!" Po exclaimed. "I'll wait for you outside the barracks. Provided Monkey and Mantis aren't hanging around anyway."

The two then got up and departed from the training hall and proceeded to head back to the barracks. Po hid outside in a bush in case Monkey or Mantis came by and Tigress headed inside to change her shirt. She reached her room and walked in, taking it out of the trunk and looking at it with nervous pulses from her heart. The only time she had worn something that different was during the winter feast, but the Winter Feast was elegant and formal and required silver, so she didn't feel as uncomfortable wearing the garment. Now she was about to put on a yellow shirt with flecks of pink on it with long sleeves and a drape down the front.

I promised Po just for today, she told herself. After that, I don't have to wear it again.

The master took a small breath to steady her nervousness from wearing the shirt and quickly put it on before she could change her mind. When she was done, she shook the sleeves a bit to get used to the feel of having more fabric draped around her arms. Tigress then walked slowly down the hall of the barracks and opened the main door to go down to the festival. She heard rustling in the bushes and turned her head to see Po.

"Are you done, Tigress?" he asked. "How does it-"

The Dragon Warrior paused for a moment when he approached the master and got a good look at her, unable to say anything except to absentmindedly finish with, "...fit you?"

"Um, fine, I guess," Tigress stammered. "Why does it look bad?"

"Wha-?" Po asked stupidly. "No! Of course not you look be-I mean, you look awesome! Like, butt-kicking awesome! And nice. Really nice...."

"M-maybe I should take it off," the master suggested, turning to go back inside.

Po quickly grabbed her arm and exclaimed, "You look perfectly fine, Tigress! I mean, at least try to wear it once. You promised me...."

"I know, Po, but I just don't feel comfortable wearing it!"

"I know," the panda admitted. "And normally I would let you do your own thing, but I really think wearing the shirt for one night will help you. Possibly?"

Tigress hesitated for a moment, but the relented and allowed Po to pull her away from the door to the barracks. "I did promise," she admitted. "And I'm not one to break a promise."

Po smiled. "Then lets get going then?" he asked her.

The master smiled and walked with him to the main gate where they began to descend to the valley. Tigress felt her muscles tense up as they got closer and closer to the festival, but she tried to put her worries aside for the moment and hope that no one would say anything. Her and Po finally reached the valley where they began to walk around the now brightly colored festival. Snack stations and musicians and kids blowing bubbles were seen everywhere and villagers were seen laughing and having a good time. Po glance over at Tigress, seeing her looking a bit nervous.

"You doing okay?" he asked her.

Tigress nodded. "I'm fine"she assured him.

Po decided they should go to Mr. Ping's noodle shop to eat, and the two proceeded to head over there. When they arrived, they spotted Mr. Ping and Scorpion serving food to customers. The old goose spotted the warriors and happily waved them over.

"Ooh! You're here!" he exclaimed happily. "I was getting worried you weren't going to come! Well, I knew you would, Po. But I'm glad you came too, Tigress! It's so nice to have everyone here!"

"That's a lovely shirt," Scorpion noted to Tigress. "Where did you get it?"

"Um..." Tigress stuttered nervously. "Po...gave it to me."

"Oh, that's right!" Mr. Ping piped up. "I remember him hiding the shirt in his room so that no one could ruin the surprise! Didn't you get other stuff?"

"Yeah, for the other Five," Po told him, casting his dad a subtle look that meant for him to keep quiet.

"I thought you got a neck-"

"DAD!"

"Oh, no, those were the lotuses you got Viper. Sorry!" Mr. Ping exclaimed quickly, getting the hint.

Tigress looked at Po funny and opened her mouth to ask what was going on, but Po quickly said, "Um, so dad, have you seen the other five? Or Shifu?"

"I haven't seen Shifu all night," the old goose answered. "Viper and Crane passed by here a while ago; they said they just needed a break from Monkey and Mantis. Mantis stopped by with his girlfriend...Gua-Ding? Quang-Yin?"

"Quan-Ying," Po reminded him.

"Ah, that's right. And Monkey...well, I haven't seen him since the other day, so I can't help you there."

"It's cool," Po assured him. "Um, Tigress and I are going to eat in here...like, in the corner in case Monkey gets any ideas."

"Understandable," Mr. Ping said. "I'll get you two the usual."

Po put some money on the counter and quickly led Tigress to a corner table to wait for their food.

"Necklace?" Tigress asked him the second that they sat down.

Po tried his best to hide the red fluster on his cheeks and tried to cover up the spilled detail by stating that his dad was probably thinking about something else. Like a pendant.

"Pendant?"

"Like...awesome thing to wear to tell our enemies you're all-powerful! Kind of," Po stammered, trying his best to cover up the detail.

"When did you get it?"

"Um...a while ago. Like four years ago. Maybe ten?"

Tigress gave him a stern look. "Po...." she warned.

"It's nothing," Po lied. "Just...something...along with the rest of my stuff...."

Scorpion came over and served the two their dinner, heading back to the kitchen. Tigress eyed Po who had quickly taken to stuffing his face with bean buns. "Po, what aren't you telling me?" she asked in annoyance.

"What are you talking about?"

"Po!"

The panda shrunk back a bit when he was given an icy look, swallowing the food in his mouth. "It's nothing important," he told her shakily. "If I wanted to tell you, I would have let dad keep on talking."

"You're always trying to get into my personal life. What's the problem with knowing one little thing about you?"

"Um..." Po stammered. "Look, it's just...it's a necklace...and, you know...wearing a necklace doesn't look...warrior-ish, I guess you call it?"

Tigress almost started laughing. "And here you are telling me about my wardrobe being perfectly fine and...hard-core," she joked.

"You're different. You can wear anything and look awesome and fierce. If us guys wear one hint of jewelry unless we're royals or something, you get your butt kicked for it."

Tigress rolled her eyes. "That's ridicules," she muttered.

"Yeah, but um...please don't mention it," Po begged. "And maybe you could...not bring it up?"

The master shrugged. "Whatever makes you comfortable," she replied.

As she went back to her food, Po inwardly sighed in relief. That was close, he thought to himself. Although if I ever actually get the guts to give her the necklace, I'll have a lot of explaining to do....And probably a lot of teasing from Monkey to undergo.....

The masters continued to eat their food and talk lightly, glancing around every once in a while in order to make sure that no one was taking their interactions the wrong way. Tigress began to relax, seeing that no one was making any nasty remarks about her new shirt, and soon began to even forget she was wearing a new outfit. As the night wore on and Tigress and Po continued to talk, a terrified villager came scrambling into the noodle shop looking around frantically. He spotted Po and Tigress sitting together at the table and dashed over to them crying out, "Dragon Warrior! Master Tigress!"

"What is it?" Po asked him.

"There's bandits on the outskirts of the village!" the citizen cried. "I'm sorry to interrupt your date, but I can't find the other masters!"

"We're not on a date!" Tigress quickly corrected. "We're just...hanging out."

"Yeah," Po added. "What she said."

"Where exactly on the outskirts?" Tigress asked.

"Right towards the beginning of the village," came the answer. "I got some guards coming soon, but they're too close for my taste!"

"In that case," Po said excitedly. "Let's go kick some butts! Dad! I'll be back in a little bit! I have to vanquish some bandits from ruining the festival!"

"Just hurry back, son!" Mr. Ping called over.

Po and Tigress quickly made their way out of the noodle shop and away from the festival in search of the bandits. It didn't take them long to find them since they were busy getting ready to ambush the valley from within the trees. There weren't very many; it was just a few crocs who were relatively easy to beat. The masters snuck behind them and readied themselves for an attack.

"Hey!" Po called over.

The crocs spun around to look at the two ready to attack. The leader looked over at them with a scowl. "Seriously?!" he exclaimed. "You're supposed to be attending that stupid end-of-the-summer festival! Not scouting the perimeter!"

"Lucky for us, we got a tip-off," Po retaliated. "Now prepare to taste the fu!"

"The wha-?" one of the bandits asked, but Po didn't bother explaining it to him as he and Tigress launched into a full-out attack and went charging at the bandits. In a matter of two minutes, all six of them had been rounded up and knocked into a neat little pile by one of the trees. The bandit leader was being squashed against a tree by Po since the two didn't have any rope with them. In a minute, the guards that the villager had called soon arrived, grateful that the masters had intercepted the bandits before they did any harm. As the bandits were then quickly dragged away from the festival, Po glanced over at Tigress who was smirking at the villains being dragged away.

"They need to learn how to improve their ambushing techniques," she noted. "That was way too easy!"

"And maybe even their kung fu," Po added with a laugh. He looked at her and said, "So, how did that go?"

"Fine," Tigress answered. "Why?"

"Because I didn't hear any remarks about your shirt."

Tigress opened her mouth to say something, but then thought about what he had said. He was right; none of the bandits had made any remarks about her new shirt. In fact, they had simply gotten annoyed that her and Po had interrupted their ambush. She smiled. "I guess not," she admitted.

"See?" Po told her. "You look beautiful and you're still strong! Or...beautiful in the sense that you look nice. Not that you never do! I'm just...um...please don't punch me for saying that, please!"

Tigress rolled her eyes and gave him a hug. "Just because you were right," she told him gently. "I'll spare you this one time."

Po let out a nervous chuckle. "Thanks, Ti," he said. He wrapped his arms around the master and gently squeezed his friend gently, feeling his cheeks turn a dark shade of red. He hesitantly laid his head on her own, feeling her draw closer into his chest and rest her head against the crook of his neck.

Tigress herself felt almost completely unaware of what was going on. The only thing she knew was that she could feel Po wrapping his arms around her and she welcomed the gentleness gratefully. He may not have always been the wisest person and while he did tend to do things that annoyed her, his personality and the way he cared for people completely made up for it.

And he's always willing to extend a hand, even if people don't think they want the help she thought to herself. That's why I- She stopped herself before she finished the rest of the thought.

Wait, what am I doing?!

The master quickly cleared her throat, breaking her and Po out of their hug. "Well, thanks again, Po," she told the panda. "But um...maybe we should head back before your dad throws a fit?"

"Oh, right," Po replied with a subtle wince. "He did want me to lend a hand with the dishes later. Guess we'd better skedaddle. You coming back to the shop or are you gonna' go and explore?"

"I'll probably just look around for a little bit."

"Okay. Um...see you later then."

Po then took off back to the noodle shop, leaving Tigress behind with her own thoughts.

Nice job, she scolded herself. What a way to pull yourself together! A HUG?! Because he helped you with that stupid shirt problem?! Where's the hardcore warrior that used to kick his butt at the stupid things he says?! Okay, I still do that, but not as often as I did. But that's because we're better friends. But he's still the Dragon Warrior! Defender of China, superior to you in various ways...and...yet surprisingly compassionate...but clumsy on the occasion....and also well skilled when he's focusing on a problem....but he's completely oblivious! On occasion...it's not entirely his fault; that's how he is....but...there's...he's....

Tigress groaned. Who am I kidding? she told herself. Just admit it...you've fallen head over heels for the Dragon Warrior, the most powerful and kindest warrior the world has ever known.

The master sighed and began to walk back to the festival. What do I do now? she thought worriedly. I can't tell Po any of this! It's too sudden! We've been friends for so long.....Maybe I should talk to Shifu or Viper about it. They would know what to do. I hope......