Fleur D'Amour

By Fuuko no Miko

11/27/2011

Chapter 1

Crush

I have been waiting for this duo to hook up since 1985. So you can figure out with your math how old I am, but that is not of importance to me or this work of fiction.

First things first, I own diddly squat of the ThunderCats. I'd love to have a piece of Tygra and Cheetara but I'm but a poor inspired fangirl. Every character reference in this work of fiction is theirs: Warner Bros, Cartoon Network, etcetera, etcetera, except if it's someone I just made up. Yes you will see a few characters that did not exist in the Thunderian universe. Just in my head.

Second, I'm a hopeless romantic. The worst of my kind! Born that way, and will probably die that way. If you think this fiction is too mushy and lovey-dovey, it's your fault, you have been warned!

Third, I'm not great with action scenes, which is why I rarely write them, and even if I do, it takes an eternity and a half to finish.

Here goes nothing…

The minute his lips touched hers, she knew.

She had made the right choice.

And for that moment, that fleeting minute or so of their mouths touching, through a cloud of pure bliss, nothing else seemed to matter.

Nothing at all.

Not their quest. Not their battles, Not the sibling rivalry that sparked this confession.

All that mattered was him.

His caress.

His strong arms around her, firmly yet tenderly, sending a million pins through her skin.

As though letting her know, that she belonged with him.

Always has, and always will.

She remembered that day Jaga had carried her through the doors of the Cleric's residence, telling her that she had been accepted. She was lapsing in and out of consciousness, but through half-closed eyes she had caught a glimpse of a figure, swathed in an overgrown cape that enveloped him, his bright eyes following her as she had gone through the threshold of her new life.

She had smiled at him, briefly, before passing out again. She didn't know if he had seen it or not. She had hoped he did.

She didn't remember his name at the moment. But she will forever remember his face.

Life as a cleric had been difficult. The training. The hours. The seemingly unending physical trials and mental puzzles. She had put up with every single challenge Jaga had thrown her way. She met it with every ounce of determination she had. Failure was not an option. She had chosen this life and swore to overcome every obstacle. Those times she would even think of giving up, she remembered the day astrid, one whose petals have been consumed, but whose heart remains with her, carried her through.

That and the thought of the one who had given it to her.

She smiled as she placed the heart of the flower in her wristband. This was what kept her going.

"What's his name?"

Cheetara was jolted from her reverie by Katarah. One of the few female clerics and also one of the best. Katarah was no more than 5 years older than Cheetara herself but was beyond her years wiser than what she appeared to be. A statuesque lioness who looked more princess than warrior. She and the then thirteen year old Cheetara had developed a friendship although clerics rarely spoke. To them it was more luxury than a necessity.

"What do you mean?" she couldn't help blushing. She was completely caught off guard. The older cleric walked casually into the training room where Cheetara had rested after a grueling morning session.

"He of whom you daydream about." The older girl smirked. Cheetara could've sworn she had turned beet red. "Nobody holds a heart of a flower with such reverence without having some, eherm, personal attachment to it."

"He's just a friend." She blurted out, realizing she was probably red to the roots of her hair.

"An old one, judging but the crisp exterior of that flower's heart." Katarah said. "I hope he's worth it."

"Worth what?"

"All that distraction." laughed Katarah, before sending a thrust of her katana towards her younger friend, who had narrowly missed it, a strand of her hair getting split in the process.

Katarah always liked spur-of-the-moment sparring. Damn the girl. Her timing had always been excellent. This wasn't the first time she had caught Cheetara off guard.

Cheetara wielded her staff and swiftly deflected the blows the other cleric had sent her way. Her mindset had now shifted into cleric mode. She had gotten quite good at defending herself against Katarah, though she's never actually defeated her.

"Is he handsome?" Katarah barely missed getting hit by the staff, she caught it with her other hand and wrangled it out of Cheetara's grasp. She threw it aside.

"You could say that." She replied, diving low and knocking Katarah off her feet while she rolled to retrieve her weapon.

The two young cats circled each other at the center of the room, anticipating the other one's movement.

"Is he sweet?" the older girl asked ducking as Cheetara tried to knock her off balance with a swift kick.

"As sweet as candy fruit from the forest trees." She answered, averting a strike to her face.

They continued to exchange blows, one warrior overcoming the other, alternately getting the advantage. A wave of silence followed, with the clang of wood against metal cutting through the air as the only sound. Heavy breathing followed as one cleric tried to outdo her counterpart. For every hit she connected, Cheetara had to avoid getting sliced by Katarah's arm-length sword. She was beginning to get the hang of these spontaneous battles.

"Is he tall, dark and striped?"

The last sentence caused her to freeze mid-strike and giving Katarah a quick opportunity. In a split second, Cheetara found herself on the defensive stance, her staff shattered into splinters when Katarah's sword connected with it. She felt her feet go under. The next thing she knew, she was staring at the ceiling, her back to the floor and a sharp blade across her neck.

"Distraction!" the older girl smirked, retracting the blade and pulling Cheetara up to her feet. She appeared to hold back a comment as the younger cat dusted herself off. Cheetara could swear that if she had flushed cheeks the first time she was caught unaware, she probably is tomato-red now. Has she been that obvious?

She lifted a hand as Cheetara was about to protest. "Its okay, Cheetara." She smiled more playfully now. "I've had crushes when I was younger too you know." Her eyes then glimmered as she swooned. "Oh General Panthro, such a dreamboat…"and quickly shrugged as fast as she had changed her tune. "He loves his weapons more than he does his women though."

"He's just a friend." She again uttered defensively.

"And I'm just another lioness who knows how to wield a long knife."

Katarah motioned to Cheetara as they proceeded to leave the training room. Cheetara picked up the remnants of her broken staff and walked side by side with her senior cleric.

"He thinks he's stealthy but I've seen him try to peek in here a few times." Katarah said. "The little pest. Well, I suppose he's not so little now. Growth spurt and what-not. He's going to break some hearts someday."

No use in denying it now, Cheetara thought. Though, her little teenage heart skipped a beat learning that he possibly trying to spy on her. Or at least she would like to think it was that.

"Just make sure you know your priorities." Katarah's expression turned to a more serious one. "You're here to be a cleric. Guardian and future advisor to the Lord of the Thundercats."

Cheetara's face changed in tune with the older cleric's comment. She nodded silently in agreement.

"And Cheetara…"

Her eyes grew wide open.

"Your secret is safe with me." Katarah motioned a cross across her heart. "Clerics honor. A secret kept to the grave"

She smiled in return.

That secret did go with Katarah to the grave. She had died tragically in the hands of Mumm-Ra.

Twelve years was too long to wait.

But every second of it was worth it.

If only to feel her against him.

The Thunderian Gods can strike him now with lightning, he wouldn't care.

The moment she put her arms on his chest he felt an implosion. It took heavenly restraint to not pull her against him and kiss her with the longing twelve years worth.

No, he had to be gentle and savor every last bit.

I've waited so long.

Me too. You're not the only one you know.

He didn't realize he had voiced it out loud.

He had paused to take a breath, pulled back just to see her beautiful face, her lips glistening from their contact. They were slightly parted, as though inviting him for more.

He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. Rested his arms on the small of her back, pulling her closer and kissing her once more.

I love you.

There. Perfect.

He eyed his target as efficiently as a ten year old would. He moved strategically, one eye closed so as to focus. He reached out, careful not to lose balance and swiped his target.

"What on third earth are you doing?"

Uh-oh.

Fight or flight? Fight or flight? Fight or…

The work-roughened hand on his shoulder indicated that running was futile.

A sheepish smile flashed across his embarrassed face. "Hi Nana."

The elderly tabby cat wearing garden dirt covered work clothes had a look that would send an an invading army scampering to their mommies.

"Since when did you take an interest in horticulture, young prince?"

"Ahm….this morning?" he replied, "You have the most beautiful astrid garden in all of Thundera!" he exclaimed, trying to hide the flower he had plucked into his pocket. He tried not to crush it. That would totally suck if he did.

That part was actually true. The royal governess had the most eye-catching garden in the kingdom. They were quite obviously a labor of love.

"Are you on break from your gate duties?" she raised a brow, but one can see her eye had wandered to Tygra's pocket.

"Yes Ma'am." he tried to brush off her glare casually. "Just taking a minute from my royal duties to admire your hard work." with this he started taking back baby steps slowly. "Your garden kicks serious butt…I mean, its awesome."

She raised a grayed brow as he took a few more small steps backwards.

"My breakisoverseeyoulater, bye!" and with that he sprinted off back to the palace gates.

She shook her head, trying to stifle a laugh. She had been watching him for the last ten minutes as he was apparently hunting down a particular flower from her sea of astrids. When she looked over she noted the broken stem was from her prized day astrid. She was saving that one to enter in the yearly flower growing competitions. It was the most perfect of all the dozens of flowers in her garden.

Tygraaaa!

She would've pulled his perky ear if she hadn't been laughing so hard.

Her little ward had a girl crush.

She can't wait to remind him when he's all grown up and manly.

Author notes:

Katarah is a figment of my imagination. She is only a cleric in my head and nowhere else. (I do know a person named Katarah for real though). Any inaccuracies in the depiction of the clerics were not intentional and are not to be taken too seriously. Literary license folks!

Tygra's Nana is too. She's the royal governess in my head.

I'm a little rusty in the writing department. My last fanfic was written at least 10 years ago (Flame of Recca). Pardon my errors

And just for the heck of it, Tygra and Cheetara will do guest commenting at the end or the beginning of my fics.

Tygra: Sweet as candy fruit? The thought of it is giving me a toothache. And nausea.

Cheetara: You know, fanfic writer, I wasn't that smitten. You exaggerate. And I never got distracted during my cleric training.

Tygra: I believe the writer. The thought of me can be very, very distracting. *winks at Cheetara.*

Cheetara: Not every female cat on Thundera wants to throw themselves at your feet you know.

Tygra: I don't need every female on Thundera throwing themselves at me, I just need one. *smiling slyly.*

Ooookay, I'm marching on to the next chapter before you two make me sick. A hopeless romantic can only take so much cheese :).

11/29/2011