Before It's too Late (A KFP fanfic)

  Once at the Training Hall, Shifu saw Tigress training with The Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors. At first, Shifu was surprised, but then realized that he should've known, if there was anyone who would train this hard, it would be Tigress. Tigress displayed much grace and strength in her Kung Fu while fighting the Wooden Warriors and Shifu couldn't help but feel pride swell up in his heart when he saw her train. However, once he felt that pride, he pushed the feeling back down. Tai Lung maybe gone, Shifu thought, but I will not make the same mistake again. One side of Shifu was afraid that if he showed any sign of pride to Tigress as he did to Tai Lung, she would end up just like him. But there was another side of him, a very slight side of him, that knew Tigress is not and will never end up like Tai Lung. "Well, better be safe then sorry." Shifu said and walked out of the shadows. "Tigress." he said.

  Upon hearing her name, Tigress spun around, surprised to see her master. "Master Shifu!" Tigress said and bowed in respect with her fist to her palm. "I was just training." 

"So it seems." Shifu said "But there will be plenty of time for training tomorrow. Right now, you should be in bed." 

"Yes master." Tigress said and started to walk out the Training Hall. 

"Tigress..."

"Yes?" Tigress turned to face her master.

"I...uh..." Shifu couldn't get the words out. He wanted to tell her right there and then how proud he was of her, but the thought of her becoming like Tai Lung held his tongue. "Tigress-" Shifu tried again, but before he could say anything else, an arrow whizzed past his head and struck a nearby pillar with a loud 'THUCK!' 

"What the-" Shifu started, but he was caught in mid sentence before approximately thirty bandits or more crashed through the windows and doors of the Training Hall and attacked them.

  The bandits were mostly wolves and hogs and they all carried either Dadao swords or large hammers as weapons. Although outnumbered, Shifu and Tigress fared well against the bandits, working together in perfect teamwork and using the objects around the Training Hall to their advantage, but soon, they started to tire and it seemed that no matter how many bandits they knocked down, more just took their place. After a few more minutes of fighting, Shifu and Tigress stood back-to-back, panting hard and surrounded by even more bandits. But when all hope seemed lost, they heard a familiar cry of "WOOHOO!!" and Po and the rest of the Furious Five crashed in, knocking a few bandits out of the way. Once, Shifu and Tigress saw this, they resumed fighting. "Where were you guys?!" Tigress asked as she kicked a wolf bandit into the Wooden Warriors and thus, making all of them start spinning and hitting the bandit on all sides, including his 'Tender spot'. 

"Sorry we're late," Crane apologized, sweeping three bandits in a row off their feet.

"we were just cleaning up our end," Mantis continued, chi blocking a bandit.

"and not to mention," Viper grunted as she punched a bandit in the face.

"getting out of a sticky situation." Monkey finished, doing a split and kicking two bandits in the face.

"In my defence," Po said while punching a bandit in the face, "I was just curious."

  With everyone all fighting, in a matter of minutes, all the bandits were defeated and all seven Kung Fu masters stood proud in the middle of the wreckage. There was a moment of silence until Po broke it , saying " That. Was. AWESOME!! I mean, we were outnumbered a hundred to one but we didn't stop! We were like..." and Po made a few moves while making funny Kung Fu shouts. Monkey, Mantis, Crane and Viper started laughing at this, Shifu just shook his head slightly, smiling a little and Tigress just rolled her eyes with a slight smirk on her face. But then she caught movement at the corner of her eye. Tigress turned her head to the direction of the movement just in time to see a wolf bandit outside the Training Hall, hidden in the trees, let his arrow fly, which was aimed at Shifu. "Master!" she exclaimed, but Shifu barely had time to react once he saw the arrow and blood splattered.

  For a few moments, Shifu was stunned, he didn't know how to react to what just happened. He wanted to scream, to shout, or say anything audible. But instead, he just stood there, shocked, unable to speak with blood on his face and watched as Tigress dropped to her knees, an arrow impaled in her chest. "TIGRESS!!" Viper yelled as she and the others ran/slithered towards them. The wolf bandit was about to make his departure, having used his last arrow, but before he could jump down from his hiding place, someone whooshed pasted him and Crane landed in a crouch-like position, his back facing the wolf bandit and after a heartbeat, the wolf coughed once, and fell face first to the ground. "Crane!" Shifu yelled from the Training hall, "Find a healer!" 

"Yes, Master Shifu!" Crane responded and flew off. 

"Mantis, help him." Shifu ordered Mantis.

"Yes, Master Shifu." Mantis responded, bowing, and in a blink of an eye, he was gone. 

"Hang in there, Tigress!" Po said. Tigress grunted a little as Monkey carefully removed the arrow from her chest. "Po." Shifu said "Fetch something, anything, to stop the bleeding."

"On it!" Po said and ran out of the Training Hall. Once Po was out of sight, Shifu went to Viper. "How is she?" he asked, worried. 

"She's losing a lot of blood, master." Viper said, fear in her voice. "Monkey, try to put more pressure on the wound."

"I'm trying!" Monkey said, fear in his voice too.

  Shifu couldn't help but feel guilty. If only I had payed more attention to my surroundings, if only my reactions were faster.... Shifu thought, No. Now's not the time for self-pity. "Hey guys! Here!" Po said as he ran back, holding out a thick cloth toward Monkey and Viper. Monkey took the cloth from Po and put it on top of Tigresses wound. "This isn't going to hold for long." Monkey said. 

"Oh man, oh man....where's Crane and Mantis with that healer?" Po said, panic stricken. 

"Right here!" Mantis said as he, Crane and a rabbit healer along with her two geese apprentices came into the Training Hall, one of the geese was carrying a medical bag. "Oh, thank goodness!" Po said, relief in his voice. The rabbit healer quickly made her way to Tigress and examined her wound. After a few seconds of examining it, the rabbit healer said to her apprentices "Ping! Zang! This is emergency level B!" Once the geese heard that, they bowed and said "Yes, ma'am." and politely asked Shifu and the others to step outside the Training Hall. "Is Tigress going to be alright?" Shifu asked.

"It's too soon to say." The goose named Ping said.

"But don't worry," the other goose, Zang, said, "senior Li is the best there is!" And with that the two geese closed the doors (which was still surprisingly still standing) of the Training Hall.

  Shifu paced back and fort while waiting outside the Training Hall with Po and the rest of the Five nearby. "This is all my fault!" Po said.

"That's not true Po." Viper comforted.

"But it is!" Po argued, "If I hadn't distracted you guys, none of this would have happened!" 

"That's enough, Po." Shifu said sternly, knowing that he had to be strong for his students eventhough he felt like crying and that his heart would burst. "Dwelling on the past isn't going to help anyone." 

"Master Shifu's right." Crane said, "The only thing we can do now is pray."

"And hope for the best." Monkey added.

  A few minutes later, the rabbit healer, Li, and her two geese apprentices, Ping and Zang, came out. "So...how is she?" Shifu asked.

"Don't worry," Li said with a reassuring nod, "The surgery was successful." Hearing that, everyone breathe a sigh of relief and Po fainted. Shifu felt like a huge boulder had been lifted from his chest. "She's very lucky." Li said, "The arrow just missed her heart and her lung." 

"And for that, we are grateful." Shifu said, allowing a smile to form on his face. Li chuckled a bit, nodding and handed Shifu a towel, "Here." She said.

"What's this for?" Shifu asked.

"To wipe the blood off your face." Li said simply and turned to walk out of the Training Hall, Ping and Zang following her.

Six weeks later....

  Shifu walked through the empty hallways of the Jade Palace, the full moon being the only light source illuminating the dark hallways with a cool blue. As he walked past the Training Hall  -which had been rebuilt- he again heard someone training, but this time he had a pretty good idea of who it was. Shifu quietly entered and again saw Tigress training, this time, at The Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion. She had recovered greatly and was back to her old self. Shifu watched with pride as Tigress gracefully dodged the heavy wooden metal-spiked clubs while traversing on the spinning serpent logs. She then leaped gracefully off the mechanism and landed with her back facing Shifu.

"Impressive." Shifu said. Tigress spun around and bowed in respect, saying "Master Shifu. Forgive me, I was- " 

"It's fine." Shifu said, walking towards her. "You have improved greatly these past six weeks." 

"Thank you, master." Tigress said. Shifu stopped in front of her. "I have a question I want to ask you." He said.

"Of course, master."

Shifu hesitated at first, then asked the question he'd been meaning to ask her the past six weeks. "Why....did you save me?"

Tigress was a little taken back by the question. Shifu noticed and said "I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that if it makes you feel-"

"No." Tigress said, "It's fine. The reason I saved you is....is because...."

Shifu leaned in a bit. "Yes?" He asked gently, careful not to push her too hard.

"Is because you're like a father to me, and I'll always protect you, even if it costs me my life." Tigress finished. The words came out so easily that she felt as surprised as Shifu looked. 

  Shifu felt his heart ache. Even after all these years of being so cold to her, she still saw him as a father and would even die protecting him. At that point, Shifu felt all his fears of her becoming like Tai Lung vanish.

"Tigress," Shifu said, "I have something I want to tell you." 

"Yes, master?"

"Please know that you are my pride and joy, and that I have always been and always will be, proud to call you my student and my daughter."

Tigress just stood there, stunned, still trying to take in what Shifu just said. Shifu chuckled a little and said "I'm sorry it took me this long to finally say this." and began to walk out the Training Hall, but before he took two steps, he found himself off the ground and in Tigresses tight embrace. He was a little shocked by this, but that shock turned into warm joy and happiness when he heard her say "And I've always been and always will be proud to call you my master and father." 

And he returned her embrace.