Thunder Kittens

By Robin Gurl

Chapter 1 – Beginnings – Rewrite

Notes:

After writing some later chapters I realized the first few aren't the greatest and the plots don't line up. So I'm going to go back and try to expand/rewrite/fix things. ' its what happens when you write the story over 10 years. From Chapter 4-5 on its pretty stable. Just want to fix a few things.

Thank you to everyone who has been reading this story as I write it and haven't given up on me yet. Its one of my favorite fanfics I've written to date.

The politics of Thundera is going to play a big plot in this story. I will lay it out as things go forward but its basically clan mixing = bad. And obviously Tygra and Cheetara are mixing clans. So plot. XD

Disclaimer: I own no one just the idea to write this out. XD

"Tygra, Jaga wishes to see you and Cheetara in his chambers as soon as possible."

He looks up from what he's working on confused. He had never been called directly to see Jaga. Quickly, he rolls his drawings up and heads out of the office towards the main hallway.

Usually, Jaga only spoke to the Thunder Cats themselves and he nor Cheetara were official Thunder Cats. He had only just gotten on the council a few years ago. He hadn't even thought about taking the trials to get that rank.

"Tygra – do you know what this is about?"

He turned to see Cheetara catching up with him, "I have no clue."

"You don't think it's about us, do you?" She asked a bit nervously. She didn't miss the looks they got as they walked down the hallway that led to the main throne room in the giant building.

"Why would it be? He approved our relationship several months ago, Cheetara. I'm sure it's not about that." He wasn't sure if he'd consider them in an official relationship or not. They would get back together and break up so many times even he wasn't sure what they were. He only turned and smiled at her, "Don't be too worried, I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation to it all."

She nods before they push the door open together.

In the throne room, Jaga was standing there by himself with two baskets on the table. He looks up at them and smiles, "Come in.. I want to introduce you to some cubs."

"Cubs?" The cheetah asked walking in cautiously. She steps closer and sees what he's talking about. "What in Thundera.."

"A terrible incident has occurred, and I need your help." He explained as Tygra joined them. "The children's father is currently on Exile Island for crimes committed against his fellow Thunderians. Their mother was just killed in an accident on the seaside village up north."

The tiger leans forward looking into the baskets. There were two kittens wrapped in blankets fast asleep. "What would you like us to do exactly?"

"Take them and care for them until we can find surrogate parents."

They both looked up shocked. Tygra laughed nervously, "J-Jaga, while I'm honored you would consider us for this task, I don't think.."

"I'm no mother…" Cheetara exclaimed backing up. "And what will the other cats think? We're barely accepted in the nobility circles as it is for being together. What will they say when they see we have cubs?"

"I trust you two and I know you can take care of this for me. They need a home for a few days, just until we can find surrogate parents." The lord explained. "As for the other cats, let me take care of that. I believe I told you both to relay any bad words that were being spread and neither of you have expressed any concerns to me."

"They are young will they survive without their mother?" The tiger asked seriously trying to change the subject. "I'm guessing they are no more than a few months old?"

"Yes, the medical team is coming up with a way to feed them without the mother present. So far they are taking to the substitute milk very well." Jaga reaches into one of the baskets and picks one of the cubs up handing it to Tygra.

Awkwardly the Tiger attempted to hold the cub afraid he'd hurt them. It was so tiny and light. The little one started to wake up and cry but he held them close and they quieted down. "…do they have names?"

Cheetara shoots a glare towards him. Why was he moving along with this? If they got anymore information she knew she'd possibly get attached to them. They couldn't do this. They didn't even live together anymore. "Tygra – what are you..?"

"Their names were lost with their mother. They have no other family that we can find either. Will you please help me with this?" He pleads.

She looks over at Tygra as he holds the cub. She finds herself blushing – he looked like a father. She never thought they'd reach this crossroads. They couldn't even agree on the mating ceremony.

"Here, I've something to attend to for about an hour. Discuss between the two of you and I will return shortly."

After he left they both turned back to the cubs. Tygra was still holding the one that had been given to him. He smiled weakly at Cheetara, "Well … we were looking for a reason to get back together."

She glares at him, "You were."

"Come now, we were discussing it just last night." He tried to calm her down. He had already apologize as best he could for what happened, even though he wasn't quite sure what he had done.

"Tygra, you can barely remember to eat and sleep. Not to mention the council just gave you a large project I have my duties as well training the younglings in my clan. We don't have time to raise two cubs."

"I will make some changes to my schedule. I will just have to leave within a reasonable amount of time and take some time off."

She was mad. Why was he trying to so hard to make this work? Why did he have to keep coming back and trying to fix it? She had broken it off unable to stay. She had felt chained down with no freedom. Not that she had another cat she was going after – she just couldn't sit still. She couldn't stay in one spot.

Tygra had no desire to go out and see new places. He was content working on the engineering nobility council. She wasn't even sure he'd ever make an attempt to move up in ranks. He had no drive.

She didn't want to give up on what life had to offer to her and settle down. Good or bad this was a cheetah clan trait. Her parents hadn't stayed together the first so many years they courted. It took so long before they both settled down and had children. All six of them.

She had always been angry at her parents for this. They were always moving. Always doing something new. She had promised herself that she'd never fall into this rut, but now, she was finding herself in the same predicament.

"I said I was sorry for what I had done."

"Stop apologizing!" She snaps at him. She glances up catching the hurt in his eyes as he looks away.

Both cubs started to cry at her out burst.

Cheetara looks over wide eyed. She hadn't meant to wake them up. She watches as Tygra pats the back of the little one in his arms. She reaches nervously into the basket and picks up the other one holding it close. Her arms shook as she tried comfort it. "I-I'm sorry little one.. I shouldn't have shouted…"

"I don't know what else to do, Cheetara. I don't know what I've done or haven't done. I just know I must have done something for us to split like this."

The cheetah looks away guiltily as the cub in her arms quiets down. "You don't need to apologize."

"Then tell me what I should do. I only know that I care for you, but I can't seem to do anything right in this relationship." He finally said after they stood in silence. "And if helping Jaga with these two younglings will help us figure out what's wrong, I'd love to try."

"What if we can't do this, Tygra? Then what? I don't want to hurt the cubs."

"It's only temporary, Cheetara. At most a week or so. Jaga is looking for surrogate parents." He explained hoping to help calm her fears. He watched her for a few seconds before he sighs. "Look, if something doesn't work out, you can leave the cubs with me. I won't hold you down."

"But Tygra.."

"And I won't hold any blame towards you."

"You can't handle two cubs on your own."

"I won't be on my own, will I? You're going to help me." He nods to her. He was giving her that look that she hated. She couldn't pull away or change her mind when he did this.

She was unable to verbally respond this time and only nodded. She looks down at the cub in her arms, her heart beating so fast she couldn't hear anything else in the room.

Cheetara looks up at him smiling nervously. Even after she had said all of that she was becoming more and more okay with this idea. Nervous beyond belief but there was a twinge of excitement peeking out from under the fear of what they were about to do.

She didn't want to lose him and the only way they could figure all of this out was to work it out. They needed something to keep them together so it could all be ironed out. They needed a reason to have to work together and be around each other.

The cub's eyes opened and it looked up at her. "…this one is a male."

"I believe the one I'm holding is a female." Tygra returned her smile, she could tell he was just as nervous. "They must be fraternal twins."

"What do we want to name them?" She asked unwrapping the blankets around the male in her arms so she could get a better look at him, "They appear to be Wild Cats and Tiger mix."

She finally realized why Jaga wanted them on this job. Tygra did as well as he looked to her, "They are mixed."

"Why not Kat?" She offered. "For the boy at least."

The tiger looked up in thought, "Then Kit for the girl?"

"Kit and Kat? It has a nice ring to it." She looked down at the two of them and got closer to Tygra. "Are we sure we can do this?"

"We won't know until we try, Cheetara." He responded reassuringly. "Jaga trusted us for this job and if he trusts us then surely we can do this."

She nodded leaning into him slightly resting her head on his shoulder. "…I'm sorry for earlier. I just hate seeing you apologize when you've done nothing wrong. I-I promise I'll do better at letting you know when things are going wrong, ok?"

He looked down at her shocked before letting out a sigh of relief. "Sounds reasonable to me."

Jaga stood behind them silently watching. A smile crossed his features as he watched them talk and hold the cubs. He had heard of their quarrels and wanted them to try and work things out but he had no way of helping.

He wanted the cubs to have a family who would understand and love them. Being mixed it would take a special family. He had a strong feeling that Tygra and Cheetara would be perfect. If only they could get past their differences.

The surrogate parents were a half lie. He had two other couples he had as back up if something went wrong. But his intuition told him that they wouldn't be giving the kittens up that easily.

"Have you decided?" He finally asked walking up to them.

"We have. We'll take them in and look after them until the surrogate parents can be found." Tygra responded looking to Cheetara who smiled and nodded as well.

"Have you named them?"

"Wily Kit and Wily Kat."