Stripey Mommy Chapter 1: Lets start with an AU where Lei-Lei is an orphan and Tigress makes a big choice to make when it comes to her new friend. Expect TiPo! I know its a bit heavy of an opening, but someone had an AU idea that was similar to this and I fell in love with it. Sorry for any typos or errors.


Lei-Lei's POV:

I never get a lot of visitors to my house ever. Even when mommy and daddy still came home, not a lot of people would come with them. The day the big stripey baby came into my house was a real happy day, because I liked having others to show my stuff to. I just wonder why she didn't seem as happy as I was to see my dolls and my room. Sure, its a little dirty, and doesn't have much in it, but its my room and I'm proud of it!

"So... This is your room?" She asked me in a gentle voice as she bowed onto one knee, and frowned just a little bit more than before.

"Yeah-huh! Grandma panda says its all my space and no one elses!" I giggled, pointing to all of my things a couple of times so that I didn't miss pointing out any of my stuff.

"You live with your grandma?" Stripey baby went on, and I couldn't helped but giggle, since usually I'm the one who asks all of the questions in the village.

"No! Silly, shes not my real grandma, thats just what everyone in the whole wide village calls her sometimes!" I explained in a matter-of-fact way. "Shes taken care of me for a real long time though. Longer than mommy and daddy even!"

She seemed startled by something suddenly, and I figured it was because of how loudly I was talking. I know sometimes I don't like it when people talk to loudly, so I lowered my head quickly so I wouldn't be to loud again. Still, Stripey didn't smile like I usually do when people are quieter, so I raised my head again since it was obviously okay to be louder again.

"My mommy and daddy don't come home anymore, but thats okay, because I'm a big panda and can take care of myself." I said. "Just like you! Only the boy panda who you talked with once says you're not a panda like me, but thats okay also."

She still frowned at me! Well, not really me anymore, because she turned and looked down at where my dolls were and gently took my prettiest one into her paws really careful. I could tell she was being careful with her because she didn't drop my dolly on the floor like I sometimes did. I loved that dolly to much though, just like Stripey probably did.

"Where are your parents, if you don't mind me asking?" She asked while she ran her claws through the dolly's hair.

Truth be told, I didn't really know. My mommy and daddy had left long ago when I was still to little to remember. Or at least that's how I remember it happening, and since I couldn't remember any other truth, I would tell her that one. He didn't seem to pleased to hear this from me.

"I don't know... They left with a long time ago." I piped up, and she didn't seem to pleased to hear this from me, so I tried to get someone else in trouble instead. "Grandma and my babies don't want them to come back though, because they made her very sad I think. She and the other pandas cry whenever I ask about them, and so do my babies too."

She looked bewildered, which is a big word for shocked, but then her face went to normal again and she placed a heavy paw on my head. She drew in a breath and shut her eyes, I could tell she was thinking very deeply about something. Hopefully she was thinking of nice things and what not. I wanted to see her smile.

"Lei-Lei," She paused for a long time, and I think all she wanted to say was my name for now, but that wasn't the case. "Who are your babies? Will you show them to me?"

I was hesitant at first, because she still didn't smile and I didn't like that. I wanted her to be happy like how we all were here. Finally, the stripey baby smiled real warm at me, and I grabbed her hand quickly, since she was happy enough to meet my babies now. With that, I brought her over to my other dolls and held my paws up for my other doll back, which she returned shortly after. I then gathered up each baby from their little spots and wiped them all up clean with my dress, so they would look nice.

"This one is Lei, which is like my name but once." I introduced the first one in my paw, and pointed to the spot under the doll's eye that was painted blue for tears and stuff. "She cries a lot."

"Why is that, Lei-Lei," She asked me, watching me as she sat on the edge of my bed. "Why does she cry? I'm sure she would feel better if he didn't."

"Because." I explained, pointing to my other two dolls. "These two try so hard to keep her happy."

"So they're good tears?" She smiled a little wider when I nodded my head.

One of her bigger paws picked up one doll I dropped suddenly, which I think might be Song, but I didn't remember if that was her name or not. She held Song in what I thought was a tight grip, so I saved my dolly by dropping the other's and pulling song back to me quickly. Stripey baby didn't seem to like that, so I told her about Song's fragile strings and her tangled hair, and to make up for it, I showed her Summer next, who she didn't seem to like.

"Why do you make her so angry looking?" She frowned while she eyed Summer's angry looking face.

"Shes angry at herself. I didn't make her that way." I lied, since I was the one that painted her face and ruined it by accident.

"I see... She almost reminds me of our former master at the Jade Palace." Her voice was gentle, but also kind of serious.

"Whats the Jade Palace?" I asked.

"Well... Its my home, if you want me to get technical." She replied, looking from the dolly to me. "Kind of like your home."

"This isn't really my home." I said. "I already have a family here with me, even if its not mine, but its her home and not mine, you see?"

I slowly looked down at the babies in my arms, and then back up at her. I don't know why I did it, but slowly I reached out and offered all of the babies to her. One by one, each baby was carefully picked up and examined, one right next to the other in her arms for warmth and comfort. I figured from there that Stripey baby must be a Stripey mommy too, because she was holding my babies the same way my mommy used to hold me in her arms when I was little.

At least thats what grandma told me when I asked.