Long Shot chapter 1

Many residents of the Valley of Peace dimly recalled a time, two and a half years ago now, when the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior had ventured far away to save China from a peacock named Lord Shen. Most people didn't know much more than that. As the conflict had never gotten anywhere close to them, the most informative details on the battle that they had received were rumors, many of them too wild to believe – things like metal dragons that spit fireworks and a village of pandas that had been mercilessly slaughtered. What everyone was certain of, though, was that the evil villain had been put in his place by their very own Dragon Warrior, and that he would never endanger anyone's safety again.

What they WEREN'T aware of, however, was that this very same "villain" walked among them nearly every day.

Sheng Li – more commonly known as Shen or Lord Shen, although his current preferred title was "master" – had been living in the Valley of Peace for just over a year now, and sometimes he still couldn't believe it. For several months after his humiliating defeat at the hands of the "warrior of black and white," he had lurked outside of Gongmen City in the abandoned Dao-ming Temple, healing (sort of) and simmering with hatred and a desire for revenge. He had been found by an old goat mostly just referred to as "the soothsayer," although she had been Shen's nanny when he was a chick. She had tended to him and tried to convince him that vengeance wasn't necessary, but his insanity hadn't allowed him to listen to her. As soon as he was well enough, he had set off for the Jade Palace, planning to steal relics from the Hall of Sacred Warriors, but his progress had been interrupted by a small blue kitten that, at the time, he had never seen before…the same kitten that was striding beside him today.

"Why does Shifu always make US do the shopping?" grumbled Kurisu, the basket tucked in the crook of her arm swinging as she and Shen walked through the market. Indeed, Master Shifu had sent them down here in order to buy fruit, although Shen was also using the opportunity to purchase a few of his favorite sago tarts. He shrugged.

"You're a student, and I'm indebted," he replied, and couldn't help but wince a bit. He certainly was indebted.

Kurisu was actually the only student training at the Jade Palace who hadn't become a master yet. She had been adopted by Po's father Mr. Ping after a massacre on the village in Japan where she'd lived as a child, making her Po's adoptive little sister. She had escaped from the raze remarkably unscarred, both physically and mentally, and managed to be quite cheerful most of the time – even when Shen had kidnapped her as a means of revenge and gaining a ransom. He had quite proudly brought her back to Dao-ming after she had failed to interfere with his affairs and boastingly asked the soothsayer how successful this future endeavor would be. But his nanny's prediction had been far from what he expected. Instead of anything having to do with a conquest of China, she had foretold that Shen would not ever find happiness until he learned how to care about someone as much as himself…care about someone MORE than himself. The kitten was meant to be his path to redemption.

Of course Shen hadn't believed it. He had laughed at every attempt that the soothsayer made to try and get him to socialize with Kurisu, and had at first shown nothing but hostility towards the child. But that had never stopped her from treating him as if they were best buddies. This had been annoying, to say the least, until one day when a fight with his Nana had led to Shen having an utter breakdown – and he had cried for the first time in over thirty years. This proved to be the first step to relieving all of the pain that had built up in his heart. One event had led to another, and before he knew it, Kurisu had been given her own room in Dao-ming, and he was looking after her rather than imprisoning her. He had hardly dared to admit it, but he had actually grown attached to her.

Of course, he had no problems admitting that now, Shen thought fondly as he watched Kurisu mutter angrily and scoop plentiful handfuls of oranges and plums into her basket. His relationship to her was somewhere between a brother and a guardian. Oh, of course she was obnoxious sometimes, but it was usually impossible for him not to smile at her kitten-ish antics (one of her favorite hobbies was pouncing on his fan tail).

Life at Dao-ming had become surprisingly enjoyable – he had bonded with his nanny again, was sparring and playing with Kurisu on a regular basis, and rather liked the pleasant lightness that had come over his heart since his breakdown – when suddenly things took a turn for the absolute worst. A mob had learned that Shen was alive and of his whereabouts, and had run rampant through the temple and the rest of the city, causing unbelievable damage. He had managed to get Nana and Kurisu to safety and was fully intending to sacrifice himself to the mob for them, but just in time, the Dragon Warrior, the Furious Five, and Master Shifu had arrived in Gongmen City with the intent of getting their child back. They managed to help control the chaos – that is, until a few stray fireworks that were supposed to be used as weapons had caused a boulder to nearly flatten part of the city. Just in time, Shen had managed to tap into his new inner peace and stop it, becoming near-fatally injured in the process. But much to Kurisu's relief, he had survived.

His less-than-evil treatment of the kitten, as well as his willingness to put his life on the line for the city, had been what had drawn the attention of the Jade Palace masters. Even Po couldn't ignore these developments in the peacock who had once been his archenemy. Eventually, the verdict had been made: Shen and the soothsayer would be allowed to take up residence in the Jade Palace.

Shen still didn't know how he'd managed to get off so luckily. True, he had had to prove himself once and for all before officially being named a master and taken into the "family," but ever since then, no one had seemed all that bothered by him. Shouldn't they be a bit more alarmed by a formerly insane and genocidal peacock living in their midst? Maybe it was because they knew he was really reformed now; maybe it was because they knew that he had been seriously psychotic at the time of all his crimes. But most likely it was because of Kurisu. She cared about him too much to be parted from him, and they had humored her. That was what Shen thought, anyway.

He was thinking about it now as he and Kurisu continued their shopping expedition. The kitten was still glowering, clearly desiring something more exciting than purchasing groceries to occupy her time. She was very young and had a lot of nervous energy; if she had her way, then she would spend all day and the greater part of the night doing physical training and sparring, with breaks for eating and chattering happily to people in between. It was only because of Master Shifu that she was forced to do things like chores and meditating. As for Shen, he didn't much mind the menial work – it made him feel like he was doing something vaguely useful. He was, after all, VERY indebted, and couldn't seem to find anything that would make up for the damage he'd done.

When Shen looked back at the things he had done during his long period of insanity, he felt as if he were watching the antics of a possessed, hazy, bloodthirsty person. There were so many people that were gone because of his random bouts of anger. His parents were gone, dead from grief after they were forced to banish him; his best friend Xun was gone, slaughtered in cold blood when he had finally decided to stand up for himself; so many people that he had known in his youth and had cared for him were now gone because of his actions. His Nana always said that one day he would find a way to make up for what he had done, and she had never led him astray before; he just wondered how he could possibly –

"STOP, THIEF!" shrieked a voice from across the marketplace.

Kurisu's ears perked right up, and Shen smirked down at her. "Looks like we're going to be seeing a little action today after all," he said.

"Oh yeah!" Kurisu did a little jump, practicing a few kung fu moves in the air. "Get ready to feel the thundah – no, that's Po's move. THE LIGHTNIN'!"

Shen rolled his eyes.

***

That same morning, a dark, dirty figure had crawled into the Valley of Peace – or rather limped, as anyone that got a good look at it would have been able to tell that it was very injured. But no one did see it slinking into the marketplace. It padded forward on all fours; its clothes and fur, which were both gray, had been so darkened with filth that it was practically a shadow. The figure had lost all ability to speak, to think like anything but an animal. Its only concern was getting food.

For a while, it crouched under the merchant cart of a rather portly pig who was selling breads and other baked goods. It was waiting until the vendor wasn't looking; it had been hit and stabbed too often during its other thieving missions not to be wary, even if it couldn't really think at present. Finally, when it was certain that the merchant couldn't see it, it snatched the largest loaf of bread that it could find and took off running.

The pig noticed her missing ware and immediately raised a cry of, "STOP! THIEF!"

In due time, an albino peacock and a little blue kitten had rushed over to her cart. She recognized them; they both lived up at the Jade Palace, so they must have been here to help her. "What did he take, and which way did he go?" demanded the peacock.

"My bread!" the pig shouted angrily, and jabbed her hand towards where the figure was stagger-running away on all fours. "He went that way!"

Shen and Kurisu quickly managed to overtake the bandit, who seemed incapable of going very fast. When he heard them coming, he spun around, his dirty fur bristling in all directions. He growled, and the sound was somewhat muffled by the loaf of bread clutched in his fangs – he was a wolf.

"Hold it right – " Shen started…then suddenly, he skidded to a halt.

That wolf…

Shen's eyes narrowed. No, this couldn't be right. Surely he was seeing things. Surely he was just confusing this wolf with another – he remembered from when he had been commanding his army that many of the wolves looked the same. But even under the thick layer of dirt, the face looked very familiar…

And how many wolves had a bad left eye?

"Xun?" Shen asked softly.