A/N: Thank you very much for the reviews guys! As requested by Jade, Tiger's POV (don't worry, I am writing Pendant too). Again, this was scribbled down very quickly so excuse it's crappiness.

Red Strings

I hate you. I hate everything about you. I hate your laugh, that incessant, relentless noise which fills my head and boils my blood. I hate how you use it to distract everyone when they get too close to the secrets you guard so fiercely. I hate your attempts at keeping everyone at arms length. You're too cowardly to show your real feelings.

I hate you because you're a swindler, a money-grubbing furball and a con artist if ever I've met one. I can practically hear the wheels creaking in that furry head of yours - always thinking, always figuring out. It's maddening! You never let up; you're as stubborn as the kid. You can't bear to leave something until your thirst for information is quenched and you've finally cracked whatever mystery or riddle the universe has handed you. Then a spark ignites in your eye and the fur on the ruff of my neck stands on end, because I know this can only mean trouble.

Sometimes I think you'd sell your own mother for a few golds. Sometimes I wonder why I didn't let you tumble down that cliff.

I hate the games you play with my head. I hate myself for allowing you to get away with them. You know how to bait me and like a fool I always take it. You treat life as a game of chance and you've gambled more than a handful of golds in the time we've been together. Much more.

I hate the way you treat people as a means to an end, the way you first treated us. You can be far colder than I can. I hate when your smile doesn't reach your eyes. I hate you because you're cowardly and dishonest. Are you even honest with yourself?

I hate that you're a better thief, I hate that you humiliated me, I hate your stubbornness, your pigheadedness, your self-assurance. I hate your loyalty, I hate your mask, I hate that you love me.

I was just another riddle for you to figure out. Tiger of the Wind following a rag-tag group of children and monsters must have appealed to your sense of humour and endless curiosity. Joke's on you, rabbit. Evidently, in your studies you uncovered more than you probably wanted to. Even now I can see you peering over the edge of your book to watch me. You've been on that page for ten minutes now. How blind do you think I am?

In the beginning I had resigned myself to believing you came along to test your wits and fill your greedy pockets. But as it turns out, you had your own scores to settle with Muu. You lost a partner of your own to war; Fairy Hare. I know that now. I hate that too, because now we share something more in common.

You're perceptive. It's frustrating. You've always seen right through me. I couldn't hide my relationship with Granity from you, so I didn't bother. It hurt you and I was glad. Then you did something completely unexpected. The wheels slowed, the laughter died, the taunts and cracks at my expense fell away to polite babble and for the first time I glimpsed a shadow in your eye. I told you to drop your act. You told me you weren't the only one wearing a mask. We'd never fought like that before. It left me feeling empty and sick because I knew you hated me as much as I hated you. Granity left soon after.

I hated the way you looked at me, compassion in your dark eyes, when I killed my own brother. I hate that you forgave me. I hate that you pulled me through each long day after, distracting me with your jibes and cheap tricks.

But most of all, I hate the person behind the mask you wear. And that for every hate I love you more.

Any reviews are really appreciated! I might continue and write a final scene, haven't decided yet.