A/N: Originally I wanted the title to be Toradora because it sounds so much cooler (Tora = Tiger in Japanese. Dora = How Japanese pronounce the word dragon), but then again it's a title of the show I was inspired by. So, I ended up with the title Tigora which are the words tiger and dragon combined (technically lol). This fic is for the awesome Becca (spenceysmith) on Tumblr! (Oh, and Becca, I'll still make an edit for this story for you okayokay).

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy and please REVIEW and tell me what you thought! It would mean a lot to me :3

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Degrassi.

"I've been searching all over –"

Beep.

"Clare Edwards, where in the world –"

Beep.

Dial tone…

"…Clare… Could you really be this mean to me? Your own mother? …You know what? Screw you! Bye!"

Covering my mouth, I giggled, tears prickling my eyes. She could have a really bad temper at times and it charmed me to the point where I cried of laughter. She was a stoic woman with a fierce alter ego and the thought only entertained me all the more.

She has all the right to be pissed. I left, she's right. I left from my responsibility and moved in with people I barely even know but trust. People I trust more than my own mother.

Isn't that ironic? After what happened with Darcy and that man I told myself I was going to stay away from strangers. But look at me now, Saint Clare! Look how people change in an instant! Look how you disappeared from my life –

C O M P L E T E L Y

Screw this, I think, standing up from the old chair and walking off to the balcony of the small room Summer had given me. It was hard to see the stars out that night, so squinting, I found a small star. It was tinkling, trying to catch someone's attention. Sounds familiar? Hope so.

I took out my phone, and smiled, pointing the camera at the small star. "Look at you, trying so hard. You're so small… trying so hard to be seen. You're hidden and lonely just like me, aren't you?"

Click.

I blamed my lack of confidence on my parents and my surroundings, but I know there is at least someone out there that loves me. Someone…

E L I ?

No. Not him. He moved on. Or so I hope he did.

Even if it's not Eli, I have to keep moving on. I can't run away anymore. I have to change. I have to accept everything. I will be proud of myself and… and…

Love Eli.

…

I knocked on his window once I left the old, dusty house owned by Summer. The houses around me where all pitch black and his was no exception. I knew it was late, but I had to see him, if not I would die.

Okay, maybe not die, but close to dying.

Or just being emotionally unstable until I could get a closure with him –

- a reunion of sorts, maybe.

I kept knocking on the window until I heard a very loud groan and the person inside the room opened the blinds and his eyebrows shot up, and his hand opened the window in an instant.

"Am I dreaming?"

"Idiot," I muttered, hopping into his room, and moving away from him.

"Well, this is a surprise," he said, still not believing my presence in his room at 4:00 AM on Thursday. "Clare Edwards, what brings you here?"

"Eli," I started, biting my lower lip. "I have no idea to be honest."

He kept staring at me as my feet dragged me towards to his window and I leaned on the frame of it. His head cocked to the side and he stared at me, walking to lean on the window next to me.

"To be honest, I'm kind of scared. I left home and – and probably scared my mom to death. And I'll probably be yelled at or something," I told him, as he stared at the night sky behind us.

"There are a lot of stars out, huh?"

I looked up but I couldn't see anything. I thought about the star trying out shine the light of the houses and I sighed, my eyes fluttering closed.

Maybe I should go back to my glasses.

Even so, I nodded my head, and we stared at each other.

"I have a dream, you know," I began, and he chuckled.

"I have a dream too."

"You and your wittiness," I laughed, and he smirked as response. "No, I mean… I want to fix things between my mom and I. Because if I do then things won't break again, right?"

"I don't think things broke between you two," he told me, scratching his scalp. "I think… You two are just lost."

I nodded for him to continue.

"Can't you start over? From square one?"

My eyes softened, and I looked down at my feet. "Maybe." We kept silent for a moment as I tried to recollect my thoughts, and then I continued, "but it would take a long time for things to go back to how they started."

"Maybe."

I pushed myself away from the window and walked to the other side of the room, and smiled at him. "Then before I go, let's do something."

I saw him shift, and a curious spark went off in his eye, and I knew he was interested in the idea as he walked away from the window too.

"Someone once told me that since "ancient times the dragon has been the only one to tame the tiger". Eli, you're the dragon."

"So you're the tiger?" He asked, confused.

I hummed. "Even if we're not together, Eli, someway we'll be bound to each other forever. Whether we like it or not. That's what I concluded long, long ago. The first time we met. Am I right?"

His eyes narrowed, and his breath hitched at the same time as mine as he got closer to me. "Yeah," he breathed out, walking closer to me. "Clare I –"

"Your eyes are getting foggy. Your breath is uneven," I acknowledged, making him flush in embarrassment.

"Shut up, Plath," he muttered, looking at the far right.

"Your lips are cracked, too. If we were to kiss…" I whispered, blushing, my fingers playing with each other. "If we were to do that… It would hurt a lot, wouldn't it?"

He walked over to me, confidence in his stroll, and his hand cupped my cheek softly, carefully, like if it were a baby. My breath stopped as his lips pecked mine. He moved away, his eyes staring down at my blushing face.

"How was it?"

"I knew it," I told him, and his eyes wavered. "It was like a rough, dry wilderness. But at the same time, it was really warm. Really… really warm," I told him, my blush reddening, confidence piling up inside me. "Hey, it's cold, so let's do it one more time –"

He cupped the back of my neck, his lips assaulting mine in an instant, and we were engulfed with each other's presence and the world seemed to fade into the background. We parted, catching our breaths.

I saw him move back when I spoke up again, "One more."

And his lips were on mine again and again and I felt like drowning in the scent of –

E L I

My arms were wrapping themselves around his neck, and I had no control over my actions.

When we parted, I breathed out one more time, "Please, one more."

…

When I got home later that night, after my heated kisses with my ex lover, my mother yelled at me. And she cried and hugged me, and I wasn't expecting that from her.

ImissyouImissyouImissyou.

Mom, I missed you.

Family could be an amazing thing, Eli had told me once. And he was right.

.

.

.

There's this saying, if I am correct, that goes, "There's something in this world that no one has seen before. It is gentle and sweet. Maybe if it could be seen, everyone would fight over it. That's why no one has ever seen it. The world hid it so that no one could get their hands on it easily. However, someday, someone will findit. The person who deserves it the most will definitely find it. This is how it's created."

And I think I found that one thing. That one thing is love. And I should cherish it. After all, I wouldn't want it to go breaking, right?