Okay, I just HAD to put this on here. This is the coolest fan art I have ever seen! Okay, back to the story. 

The masters spent the rest of the week continuing on in Shifu's extremely difficult warm-ups and main exercises. Monkey pretty much carried on the same while Mantis tried to make more opportunities to sneak out and go on dates with Quan-Ying. (Shifu caught him in the act at some point and forced him to do everyone's chores, which put an end to that). Po at some point did manage to have a sit-down conversation with Tigress, but the master gave him nothing but more vague answers to work off of which both bothered and irritated the Dragon Warrior to a certain extent.  She continued on with her normal schedule of training and visiting Dai at Bao Gu. After going through a few hours of Dai breaking two sets of dominos, Mr. Ren insulting her to the point where she nearly kicked him into the wall, (it took all her self-control to not set a bad example), and Dai destroying the legs of his bed, Tigress talked out a schedule with Mrs. Ire. They both agreed that Tigress would come by twice during the week: during the middle and the end. Mrs. Ire promised to try and keep Dai as calm as possible, though this would mostly be possible if he was kept away from Mr. Ren. (A task that would prove to be a bit of a challenge). 

The valley stayed relatively safe during the week. There a few mild attacks, but nothing that caused much of a problem for the masters. Po had begun to rewrite his letter to Li since his first attempt had resulted in more of a rant about his failed attempt to teach. As he had finished up his second attempt, he was surprised by a letter from Li himself. The letter expressed how much he was missed by his father and the other villagers. (And Mei-Mei had specifically asked Li to ask after Po's health following his long journey home and the aftermath of Kai's attack). Tigress seemed a little irritated that Mei-Mei had also asked Li to enclose a small note from Bao, but this was more directed at Mei-Mei and wasn't really something she seemed open to discussing. Po then wrote a third letter, explaining to his dad that he was just about to send him one when his letter had arrived at the Jade Palace. When Mr. Ping heard about the letter, he offered to make some moon cakes to send along with the letter Po had written in response. Po was also starting to get along better with Scorpion who's medical business was improving almost to how it was before she was banished from the valley. 

One of the biggest highlights of the week was Crane and Viper's dating announcement however. All in the valley were absolutely enthusiastic about the matter. Many came up to Crane and Viper whenever they headed down for an errand to congratulate them on their relationship. News spread outside of the valley about the arrangement rather quickly, and not wanting to accidentally give his mom a heart attack, Crane was quick to write to her about the news. Since she lived close by, it didn't take her very long to reply with extreme enthusiasm and with the promise of visiting them with the intent of staying a few days to get to know Viper better. 

"That's awesome!" Po exclaimed when Crane broke the news to everyone. "Your mom was so much fun the last time she came." 

"And she's really sweet," Mantis added. 

"And always has snacks on her," Monkey chimed in. 

"Yeah, but I just worry about what she might say in front of everyone," Crane remarked. "I love her too, but she still kind of treats me like a baby. I'm 46 for crying out loud!" 

Viper held back a chuckle at that response. "I still cannot believe that," she admitted. "You look closer to thirty." 

"Aw, thanks." 

Shifu finished up the bite of food that he had taken before joining the conversation himself. "I think it might be best to have several things in preparation for your mother's arrival, Crane," he said. "Especially considering how weak her heart can be under certain circumstances." 

"She's definitely more okay with me doing kung fu," Crane assured him. "But I know surprise attacks won't be good for her." 

"And maybe she should have something to do so that she doesn't watch Crane train by the Slice Blades of Fear," Tigress brought up. "I have a feeling that won't sit well with her, regardless on how much better she's gotten with kung fu activity." 

"Yeah...that's probably a wise idea," Shifu weighed in. "I'll go over training schedules with you later Crane, among other things." 

"How often does she come over here?" Mei-Ling asked as she took a sip of tea.

"She's only visited once," Crane told her. "But the last time I told her it was a hotel because kung fu used to give her heart palpitations." 

Po held back a laugh. "He told her we all worked there and Shifu was a low-paid servant who was slow at understanding directions," he added.  

Mei-Ling burst out laughing while Shifu sat there with his usual unamused expression. When the laughter receded, he said, "Well, I'm glad that everything was all squared away at the end of the day. And Po and Crane learned a valuable lesson." 

"Yeah. Don't lie about your career or else Shifu will wear you out going up and down the stairs," Po commented, thinking about the exhausting punishment. 

"Where is she going to sleep?" Viper asked. "She slept in Shifu's room last time, but now she knows this isn't a hotel." 

"I'll put together the spare cot in the backroom. I slept there when Mei-Ling came here," Shifu answered immediately. "I'll just make sure all my stuff is moved out and there's some more comfortable arrangements for her." 

The masters soon finished dinner and began to clean up. Shifu took Crane aside to go over specific details to make the room more comfortable for Crane's mother. Mei-Ling gave the grandmaster a quick kiss on the cheek before heading back to the little house where she had been sleeping for the past several weeks. The rest of the masters opted to retire for the night, with the exception of Tigress who immediately went to the training hall. She paused in front of the equipment, pondering over what she wanted to do first, before heading over to the side of the hall and grabbing a double-sided spear. She then proceeded to leap onto the spiral beams and began to engage the swinging spikes coming at her. For several minutes, she leaped around avoiding the clubs and propelling herself high into the air by means of the spear. Leaping over the equipment, she dug the double-sided weapon into one of the spikes and used her strength to swing herself around and towards the direction of the seven taloned rings. She then kicked herself and the spear off of the club and over towards the equipment she had her eye on. Tigress then used the spear to grab onto a ring, flip herself into the air, and then land between a few rings with the spear being used as a sturdy pole. Tigress swung herself about, stood upside down, did a few push ups in that stance, and then returned to swinging around. The master then dislodged the spear and swung down to the ground where she then headed over to the Field of Fiery Death to practice on it. She quickly made her war through the field and then flipped herself over the grounds and into the Swinging Alligator Limbs. She proceeded to fight off all of the swinging heads, using her spear as extra help in fending off any potential injuries. She eventually fought her way out of the field and turned towards the Earthen Marks of Eternity, only to see Po directly behind her. 

"Ahh!" Po exclaimed as he jumped back to avoid the spear the master had. 

Tigress sighed. "Yes, Po?" she asked, standing the spear by her side. She then noticed that the Dragon Warrior was wielding a bamboo staff. 

"You know, it's easier to be ready for attacking baddies when you have a real person to spar with," Po suggested convincingly. 

"Why?" Tigress asked flatly. "Out of practice?"

Po's reaction was to attack the master flat-out. Tigress reached her spear out to block the staff.

"Nope," Po told her. "But perhaps we should avoid that scenario." 

Tigress swung the spear around to clobber Po upside the head, but Po grabbed it with his paw and ripped it away from the master. He then swung both staffs at her head, but Tigress ducked and leaned back on her arms to propel her feet into Po's face. She kicked him backwards, causing him to drop both staffs in surprise, and she triumphantly picked them both up. "Looks like you spoke too soon, Dragon Warrior," she teased. 

Po propelled himself to his feet and took a battle stance. "Oh have I?" he questioned with a smirk on his face. He then leaped high into the air and came crashing down towards Tigress. Seeing the attack coming, Tigress flipped backwards several times, still holding onto both staffs, and landed in a fighting stance herself, ready to battle Po. She twirled each staff around as a warning to not come any closer, though this didn't deter Po in the slightest. (Not much of a surprise there). The Dragon Warrior came barreling at the master and she immediately blocked the incoming kicks and punches with both staffs. Several times she purposely swung the blades at Po's head, keeping him a good distance away from her so that she could figure out a counter-attack. Po ducked down very low to avoid one such slice and Tigress quickly used the spear as support to swing around and kick him square in the head. Po went sailing across the training hall and into the side of a wall and Tigress wasted no time running over to whack him upside the head. A couple of good combos would be enough to keep him down during the sparring, yes? This time she used the bamboo staff as her main weapon. Noticing her form of attack however, Po quickly reached out and grabbed hold of the staff and threw it over towards his right, and Tigress along with it. Tigress crashed onto the ground, but held on firm to her weapons and began to come back for round two. 

By this time, Po had gotten to his feet and was better able to receive any of the attacks that she had for him. When Tigress moved to attack him again with the bamboo staff, Po blocked them with the backs of his paws and then kicked Tigress' paw to shoot the staff up into the air. Tigress quickly switched to the spear and forced Po to duck out of the way, but as the bamboo staff came sailing down, the Dragon Warrior flopped onto his back and kicked towards the spear. Tigress jumped out of the way of the kick just as the staff came down and Po kicked it backwards towards the weapons rack, knocking everything onto the floor rather loudly. As he flipped back onto his feet, Tigress twirled the spear threateningly and smirked. "You need to work on your aim, Po," she told him. She then came back and used the staff to launch herself into the air in order to crash down right on top of him. However, Po let out a short laugh and rolled back towards the wall, moving out of the way just in time. 

"How do you know what I was aiming for?" he asked the master with a very wide grin plastered on his face. He then grabbed a nearby ax that had fallen free and threw it in Tigress' direction. 

Thinking fast, Tigress sped out of the way and used the spear to launch herself back into the air, this time landing on the talon rings high in the air, where the weapons became a lot easier to avoid. Po climbed out of the center of the training hall and went to grab a weapon he was eyeing. Taking advantage of this, Tigress gathered momentum on the talon rings and leaped towards the wall of the training hall, readying herself to kick Po and defend herself with her sole weapon. She bounced off the side of the wall and came flying at the Dragon Warrior who spun around and quickly blocked the kick with a much sturdier staff than he had been using. (The wood, from what Tigress understood about the staff, was actually made from the bark of the iron wood trees she used to punch growing up. Understandably, this was one of her favorite weapons to use during training sessions if ever it was available). Tigress ricocheted off of the staff and used the double-sided spear to come back for another round of sparring with Po. The two went back and forth knocking staff against staff and Tigress even managed to leave a few marks in Po's staff from the sharp blades she had on her. Within a few moments though, Po managed to get hold of the weapon he had been eyeing, a well-made pair of nunchuks, and used them to grab the master and throw her to the back corner of the training hall's wall. Before Tigress could even react, Po had come towards her with the iron wood staff and she did her best to block it and keep Po from cornering her to the point of immovability. The two locked weapons and struggled to overcome the other's strength. Tigress looked at where her weapon was in comparison to Po's and thought about how she would get him to lower his guard so she could get the upper hand. Normally food would be tempting or some other kind of bribe, but Po had been unusually persistent lately, so she didn't think that any of these old tactics would work. 

Then she had a completely new idea. One she wouldn't have dared to use in the past, but with Po it could prove to be a fairly easy solution to a swift victory. 

Tigress used as much of her strength as she could to lean over Po's weapon and give the panda a kiss. Po was taken by surprise at this, but didn't protest and simply closed his eyes and enjoyed it the best he could. Tigress could feel his grip loosening and mentally smiled to herself. She went to violently knock Po's weapon away, but his staff dropped before she could even get to it which caught her off guard. She then felt Po grab her by the wrists and slam them into the side of the wall, knocking the staff out of her grasp. She pulled away from Po in surprise, only to see him giving her the sneakiest grin she had ever seen. 

"Man, you're really good," he complimented. "You almost had me there." 

"How did you-" Tigress began, but Po cut her off and simply told her that he knew her enough to know when she was trying to distract him from something. "Plus, you're not really the 'I'm going to seduce you, then kill you" type," he added with a chuckle. 

Tigress turned a dark shade of red in embarrassment. "Right...." she admitted. "That was...pretty bad." 

"Not in the slightest," Po corrected. His grin was turning back into a normal smile. "I caught on because I know you well enough. I doubt anyone else would have guessed. It's a pretty nice distraction." 

"Well...thanks, Po. I guess you w-mmmph!" 

Po interrupted her with another kiss. Tigress was taken aback for a brief second but then decided to just enjoy the moment and closed her eyes. Po let go of her wrists and pulled her into a hug, which Tigress was more than happy to reciprocate. The two stood silently in the corner of the training hall engaged in their kiss, ignoring pretty much everything around them. They probably could have stayed like that for a good hour had it not been for certain irritatingly familiar snickers from the top of the training hall. Both masters internally rolled their eyes and shot daggers at the masters watching them from from above.

"Do you mind?!" Po snapped. "We're in the middle of something." 

"We'll mind our own business when you guys finally start dating!" Mantis called down. 

"We'll wait," Monkey added, kicking his feet casually behind him. 

Tigress's eyes darted over to the spear that she had accidentally dropped on the floor. She quickly reached down, grabbed it, and hurled it in the direction of her friends. Terrified of getting hit, Monkey and Mantis let out a cry of terror and darted off of the roof. Po and Tigress waited for them to leave the grounds before they looked back at each other with a tired and irritated look. 

"I know Monkey can be a bit of a jokester, but this is ridiculous," Po grumbled. "Sorry." 

"It's fine," Tigress sighed. "I'll just need to up my threats." 

She turned towards the fallen rack and began to pick up the weapons that had fallen free. Po helped her, but looked like he was about to say something. Tigress interrupted him before he could even speak. "Po, I know you care and you seem concerned, but I'll be fine." 

Po kept his mouth open, shut it, put a few weapons back, and then opened it again. "Tigress," he said firmly. "I can tell that something is wrong. You haven't been yourself for over a week, so...yeah, I'm worried about you. However, I also don't want to push you to talk if you don't feel comfortable talking about...you know...whatever's bugging you. So, I'm not going to."  He gave her a smile and added, "But I just want you to know that if ever you want to talk to me about something, my door is always open. Even when I'm sleeping."

Tigress put the last of the weapons back with a little smile on her face. It was the first one Po had seen all week which made him feel a little better. "Thanks," she told him. "I'll keep it in mind." 

She then headed over towards the door of the training hall and paused for a second to look back at Po. "This was nice though," she admitted. 

Po turned a little red and thought about what they had been doing for the past several minutes. "Um...what was?" he asked. 

Tigress' smile turned into an amused grin. "The sparring," she replied. "It is easier when there's a real body to practice with." 

She then walked out of the training hall and left the door open for Po to follow her out. Po hesitated for a second to collect himself before running out, closing the doors behind him, and catching up with the master. The two then headed back to the barracks and said goodnight to each other, heading into their rooms to get some sleep.