"If you really want to know who's fault it is, it's all Po's fault...
But you can say that you had a paw in it too..."
The words continued to echo in Tigress' mind, like a droplet hitting still water. Then again, her mind was anything but still before and after the words left the snow leopard's mouth.
Before she confronted Song, she was pretty confused already. Now that she confronted her, she was more confused about the whole affair. That wasn't the point - she was here for answers, not questions. She can come up with questions on her own - she didn't need any help with that.
What did she mean by it being her fault? She had supported the whole affair from day one - what could she have possibly done that would have lead Song to leave Po in this distraught state?
There were still more questions than answers - she wasn't backing down.
"What... what do you mean by that?"
"Don't you dare start bull-shitting, Tigress," Song said, her voice now opening up to bitterness, "Don't tell me you haven't seen him looking at you the way he does, or at least seen the twinkle in his eyes whenever you guys talked."
Was there always a twinkle? Maybe that's why if there ever was one, she didn't notice it.
Still, what she said next surprised Song.
"I didn't."
For a moment, there was silence, Tigress looking at Song with pity, but what happened next made her even more confused than she already was.
Song laughed.
"Typical," Song chocked out, "So typical that the best friend wouldn't notice."
"Why do you think I brought you here?" Tigress asked, "Po won't talk to me because it believes it's his problem to face alone, but since nothing is changing, I need to know why."
"Of course he wouldn't come to you like he normally does," Song remarked, "It's because that it involves you altogether. Trust me, do you think I didn't know that all the times Po and I fought, he went to you for comfort? I'm a little dense, but I'm not stupid."
"Then tell me what's going on with Po."
"It's all perfectly clear, Master Tigress. Everyone thinks that I broke up with Po because I was cheating on him, and couldn't take the secrecy any longer because he's the famous Dragon Warrior, but I'm not the bad-guy here. In fact, if anyone is a cheater, it's him!"
Given what she had just said about her, something clicked in Tigress, and raised her defenses up.
"How dare you accuse Po of cheating!?" Tigress snarled, the accusation against her friend clearly going too far, "During those times he went to me during your little fights was all for you, Song, you! Po would never give up on someone he cares deeply about, especially someone whom he was in love with."
Song seemed a little relaxed in relation to Tigress, but then again, Song also knew that she had more information about Po than Tigress did. She was mad at her, but was able to collect herself on Tigress' ignorance. Sighing, the snow leopard looked away from the clearly angry tiger, her frown causing Tigress to relax some of her ferocity.
"You're right, Po wouldn't give up on anyone - I've experienced that first hand, and you have too, maybe even more than me since I know how you two stood when you first met - but he never relied on me with his heart in the first place."
Tigress didn't say anything because she didn't know what to say, only gazing at Song as she turned away to look at the valley.
"I thought that it was just my imagination when I asked him out," Song said, smiling a little at the memory of asking him out and being accepted as his girlfriend, "but the longer I was with him, no matter the denial, the longer it took me to realize that it was anything but my imagination."
Sighing, she turned to Tigress, a soft, sad smile crossing her face as a light breeze went through the valley. The sun was closer to the horizon now, so the atmosphere was a little darker than the beginning of their conversation, and evening became a bit more obvious.
"Po told me to never tell anyone this, especially you," Song said, "But given the circumstances, I guess this will be my funny way of getting back at him."
"There's nothing funny about this, Song."
"You're right, there isn't, especially since he had feelings for you."
That took the cake.
"...What did you just say?"
"I don't think he got over them when he started to date me," Song said, "But hey, if I were into tigers, I suppose I would understand why he would come to fall in love with you. You're not only the Master Tigress, master of the tiger style and one of the icons of his biggest obsessions, the Furious Five, but you're also his closest friend - a pretty cliche romance next to falling in love with a stranger if you ask me."
It wasn't true... nothing of what she said could be true. There was no such thing as something being true being that good.
Even if she did want to believe it, she refused to allow herself to do so.
"It isn't true."
"Tigress, I know it's true - take it from the girl who actually dated him.
Sure, I thought that it was just his fan-boy side coming out, which I honestly thought at first was really cute, but when he started talking about what you liked, disliked, the fights you two had as friends, and little personal things I wished he asked me about, I started to get worried...
...but my guess is that it really started to show through when you asked him to show you how to cook."
Tigress cringed, looking away from the snow leopard now that she had her side of the story.
"Song, I'm so sorry..."
"Don't be - their his feelings, not yours.
Sure, they involve you, and my relationship with Po couldn't work because of it, but they are still his feelings."
She sighed a little.
"It's just one of the many flaws of Po... he doesn't realize certain things unless they're right in front of his face...
It just took me a while to realize that I needed to step out of the way for him to see it... even if it meant hurting him.
It also hurt that you two know more about each other than even I knew about my own boyfriend, but once I saw that his feelings were towards you and not me, the idea of breaking up with him became more bearable."
Song turned her head away from Tigress, feeling some level of relief now that she actually said something about her ordeal.
"Tell me, Tigress... do you love him?"
Tigress looked at Song, but Song didn't return the gaze this time.
"I mean, I know we're talking about Po's feelings here... but what about you? Do you like Po?"
Now that the question was on the table, Tigress realized that she had not thought about her feelings for Po in the longest time. Sure, she had genuine affection for him, but it wasn't sometime before he dated Song that she realized that she was smitten by him. Tigress did get over it and became genuinely supportive of the couple, but thoughts of having Po as her own had not been in her mind for quite some time. In fact, it was almost foreign to her, since she was able to convince herself that as long as he was happy, she would be able to bear with it.
Perhaps the fact she knew of Po's true feelings for her made the situation very different.
"You're not going to receive any judgement from me," Song said, whom by this point was looking at Tigress because she had not answered, "I'm his ex-girlfriend, remember?"
She smiled a little at her attempt to be humorous now, especially since she now had the answer she was looking for.
"I'm..." Tigress began to say, putting a lot of thought into her words before she continued with her answer, "...emotionally fond of him, but I was happy for you two."
Song smiled - she had it as bad as she did, maybe even more, even if Tigress couldn't admit it.
"Well, there's no need to be anymore," Song said, "You know why I did what I did and that we all make mistakes, so how about I get back to my date and you go back to the panda you're so smitten over before we lose our chance at love again?"
Song was right - she wasn't a bad person, and neither was Po - they were just all imperfect people looking for the same thing.
Her opportunity was there before her. It wasn't in the way she thought it would come, but it was there, and Po's ex-girlfriend knew she wanted to take it, and was actually happy for her.
Putting both of her paws together, Tigress did the respectful bow before looking at the snow leopard, a genuine smile crossing her lips, which Song returned, even though she couldn't put her own paws together on the account of her umbrella. Still, Tigress knew she meant respect.
"Thank you for your time," Tigress said, "I believe my mind is at ease on the matter."
"Don't mention it," Song said, giggling a little, "Now go get that panda before he gets himself into trouble."
What Tigress did next wasn't overly surprising for Song - Tigress ran. Sure, it was on all fours, as she had become accustom to doing, but she seemed to be out of sight as the sun went down as if Tigress was playing against time itself. Then again, perhaps she was - it was all out of Song's paws now as she sighed in relief, looking down at the sunset that put warmth through her heart and revealed the stars that were so far away. As Song began to make her slow pace down to the Valley of Peace, she began to think about her date again, a smile beaming on her face as another giggle left her lips.
"I wonder how I can make up to him this time..."
