CRASH!!!!!!

Tai Lung heard it right before he even felt it. The whistling and cracking of debris in his ear. The sound of his bones snapping as heavy wood smoking from the fire slammed down on his back and pinned him to the floor. He had covered his head to avoid his skull cracking as well, but there wasn't much else he could do. When he heard the debris settle onto the floor, the pain began to sink in. Whatever had hit him was not only extremely heavy, but had also landed on his lower back. Tai Lung thought it was a beam from one of the rafters since the shockwave of pain was so bad that it wen through his entire back and prevented him from being able to turn around. Or better yet, to be able to get the beam off. 

Tai Lung's arms shook as he propped them onto the floor so that he'd have better support for his head.The only good thing about being so low to the floor was that the smoke wasn't as bad. The snow leopard didn't cough as much and thus had more time to look around at the raging fire for something to help him. He glanced over the debris that had fallen around and on top of him before choosing a particularly long floorboard. He grabbed it just as the fire began to feed over in his direction, devouring any surface that hadn't yet been touched. Feeling a little panicky, Tai Lung did his best to maneuver the floorboard backwards so that he could move the beam off of him. However, with even the slightest movement there was a horrible stab of pain that ran all through his back, his legs, and parts of his spine. 

Tai Lung kept trying to move the heavy debris off his back, but his best efforts were soon stopped by a sharp pain that vibrated through his arms, forcing him to suddenly drop the piece of wood he had been holding onto. The fire was now close enough to nearly singe his fur and all the snow leopard could feel was paralyzing fear. Tai Lung buried his face in his arms to keep from inhaling the heat and burning his insides, though he knew this attempt of survival would be futile within a minute or so. The flames drew even closer and Tai Lung could feel a painful burning sensation on his lower back. There was then the sudden sound of heavy coughing behind him and the creaking of the wood from heavy footsteps. They grew closer and closer until they paused and were replaced with, "Tai Lung!" 

Never in his whole life did the snow leopard feel relief at the sound of that voice.

A few more creaking steps were heard before Po reached Tai Lung and the snow leopard felt the heavy beam lifted off of him. He attempted to sit up, but the excruciating pain hindered his movements. 

"Can you stand?" Po asked, seeing the snow leopard grimace in pain. 

"I don't...think so...." Tai Lung whimpered. "My whole...back is...killing me!" 

"Oh. Well let me help you-" 

Tai Lung immediately turned to stop him, only to let out another cry of agony. "I...can't move!" he clarified to the Dragon Warrior. "Any...help...will be...pointless!" 

Po frowned nervously. "Not quite...." he countered. "Look, I'm not going to leave you here, so...you'll have to forgive me for whatever method I used to help you." 

A nervous look passed through Tai lung's eyes. "And what method...would that be?" he asked.

Po's response was to hit Tai Lung hard on the head, knocking him out cold. When Tai Lung fell unconscious, Po apologized to him before lifting him up and dragging him out of the fiery house as fast as his panda legs would let him. After a few minutes of huffing and puffing through the smoke , he finally made it outside and collapsed in the main street to catch his breath. 

"Po, are you okay?!" Mantis exclaimed as everyone in the valley gathered around to check on him. 

"Yeah...I'm fine...." Po wheezed. "Tai Lung...could use...some help though." 

"Help Tai Lung?!" one of the villagers exclaimed angrily. "Are you insane?!" 

"Are you insane?!" came the just as angry voice of Mr. Wei. "He risked his fur to save me and my family from a fire that you started! I say you owe him!" 

Po got to his knees and weakly stood himself up to face everyone. "Look," he said. "Tai Lung did terrible things in the past. And he was rightly punished for it. But now he;s back, and so far he hasn't done anything that indicates treachery. I say we at least give him a chance and let him heal up." 

Some murmurs went around the crowd before a reluctant agreement was made to put Tai Lung in the village hospital to heal his back. 

"What about Shifu?" Crane asked Po.

"I'll handle it," Po promised. 

When Tai Lung awoke hours later, his back was sore, his head was throbbing in pain, and he was laying on a rather comfortable mattress in almost complete darkness. The only light came from a lantern that revealed Tigress sitting on a chair deep in thought. 

Tai Lung managed to smirk, despite the pain. "Do my eyes deceive me," he teased. "Or is that someone who still cares for me even after all these years?" 

Tigress broke out of her train of thought and gave him a death glare. "Don't flatter yourself," she snarled. "I'm only here to stay out of Shifu's wrath. Everyone is." 

"And yet you're here with me instead of out with your friends." 

"I could kill you," the master threatened. She got up from her seat and walked over to Tai Lung, laying a paw down on his bed in a threatening manner. "No one would care. You're just the monster who destroys everything he touches!"

Ignoring the blips of pain in his lower back, Tai Lung reached his arm up to touch the center of Tigress' chest. "I didn't mean to break it, honest," he apologized. Tigress angrily grabbed his arm and tried to rip it away, but with little success. "Is it being fixed by someone else then? Po perhaps?" 

"Oh, please," Tigress sighed irritably. "He has the worst taste in girls, so there's no way! He's dating some dancing thief named Song." 

"Oh I see. Well, maybe I can still fix it?"  Tai Lung reached up further to cuff the bottom of her chin. "You could always borrow mine in the meantime." 

Tigress growled and slapped his paw away. "You're an old fool!" she insulted. 

"Yep. And you're still a perfect little princess." 

Tigress glared at him, but then relented and sighed. "It's been a long and frustrating day," she said. "Let's just discuss this another time." 

"Fine by me. It'll be easier to talk without the headache." 

Tai Lung then slowly rolled over and closed his eyes to sleep, mentally making a note to thank Po for sparing him a brutal death by flames. Tigress took to walking back to her chair and resuming her original position to get back to her train of thought. 

THE END

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