Secrets
Part One

"Grr! I should be making the Thunderkittens clean this mess," Snarf grumbled to himself as he mopped the tracks WilyKit and WilyKat left twenty minutes ago when they came in from the thunderstorm that continued to attack the lair.

"At least Lion-O came in through the hanger and wiped his boots clean. Kit and Kat had to come in through the doors and with their space boards!" He let out another irritable growl. "Kids these days. No respect for the elders that have to clean up after them."

Snarf let out a sigh chastising himself. "What are you complaining about, Snarf? You know you like this work. At least now you feel worthwhile, that you're needed. With Lion-O a grown man and married, he doesn't need any looking after."

Snarf's ears perked up at the sound of someone outside typing the code to activate the lair's doors to open. That was strange since everyone was in the lair now, at least they should be. Lion-O was the last to return ten minutes ago when he return from a meeting with the elders of the Panther Clan. Everyone was last together at dinner and disperse afterwards. Lion went to his meeting, Panthro tuned up the Thundertank in the hangar, Tygra went to his lab, Kit and Kat went to a concert, Cheetara was left in the Control Room and Bengali had the evening off but he didn't mention going out. So, who was coming in the lair?

Snarf held the mop protectively as the doors slowly opened. If someone were coming in to attack, he'll be the ThunderCats first line of defense. The wind of the storm blew through the doors first followed by the rain that were now wetting the floor and Snarf's fur before the person entered the lair.

"Cheetara?" Snarf lowered the mop as he stared at the ThunderCat utterly surprised. He was certain he saw her in the lair earlier that night.

Cheetara looked just as surprised to see Snarf staring back at her. Her mouth opened slightly before it closed. "Snarf? What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you that," Snarf said as he looked Cheetara over. She was completely soaked with her hair matted to her head and shoulders disheveled thanks to wind. "Where were you? I thought you were here."

"I was," Cheetara said hesitantly. "But I went running...and I was caught in the storm on the way back."

Snarf knew Cheetara liked to run but at night? She did do that sometimes on Third Earth but that was on Third Earth not New Thundera! Since the resettlement on New Thundera she was too busy with Thunderians returning home and since her marriage to Lion-O, she couldn't be alone outside Cat’s Lair too long especially at night.

"I know I should keep my mouth shut on your life," Snarf began but he couldn't stop himself, "but you shouldn't be running at night, especially by yourself. You know how Lion-O worries about you."

Cheetara smiled at the mention of her husband's name. "I know but I was a ThunderCat before becoming Lady of Thundera. I can take care of myself."

"Yeah, I know," Snarf reluctantly agreed. He scratched his head confused. "I'm surprised Lion-O didn't ask about you. Does he know you weren't home?"

Cheetara made a face that Snarf interpreted that Lion-O didn't know. "You know, Lion-O. All about his work whenever he return from those evening meetings. I bet he's in his study now."

Snarf nodded, slowly agreeing. Lion-O was like that when he came back from his meetings, but he was a busy man and if Snarf didn't know any better, he was certain Cheetara sounded bitter about it. "He's Lord of Thundera and trying peacefully to settle a border dispute with the Panthers and Tigers in Delgore. It's a huge chunk of land which caused arguments between them even on Old Thundera."

"You're right," Cheetara agreed as she walked passed Snarf. "I'll change and go check on Lion-O. Good night, Snarf."

"Sure. Good night, Cheetara," Snarf said and noticed that although Cheetara didn't leave heavy mud tracks on the floor like Kit and Kat, there were light tracks of dirt from her boots. He growled again as he shoved his mop back in the bucket.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Did you do something different with your hair?"

Cheetara touched her hair and smiled. She did do something different with her hair but didn't think he would notice. "I have. Do you know what it is?"

"You trimmed the ends." Lion-O reached out and touched the soft locks. "It looks good on you."

Cheetara could never hide a blush whenever Lion-O complimented her. She tried her best as she raised her coffee mug to her face but the smile on Lion-O's face told her he noticed. "Thank you," she said as she took a sip of her coffee. The dark, hot liquid was just what she needed to fully wake up after rising early and enjoying a quiet breakfast with her husband.

"It's worth getting up extra early to enjoy this," Cheetara said quietly as she placed her mug down. "Sitting in the dining room alone, eating breakfast, talking."

Lion-O reached forward and placed a hand on hers. "Then we should make the most of it, shouldn't we?"

Cheetara smiled as Lion-O pulled her closer to him. Her eyes closed as she welcomed his lips to kiss her.

"Well, look at that," a familiar, teasing voice interrupted a private moment between a husband and wife.

Lion-O and Cheetara pulled away from each other and saw Tygra--the teasing voice, Panthro, Bengali, WilyKit and WilyKat enter the room. Immediately, everyone began filling their plates with food.

Tygra sat next to Cheetara and politely winked at her. "Sorry for the interruption, but we have to eat, too."

"We could eat in the kitchen," Panthro offered.

"No, it's fine," Lion-O said rising from the table. "I have to get going anyway." Lion-O leaned over to give Cheetara a kiss goodbye. "I'll see you at dinner."

Cheetara's eyes followed Lion-O as he walked out of the room. When she turned away from him, she saw the other ThunderCats looking at her with knowing eyes. "What?"

"You're blushing," WilyKit spoke for the rest of the group.

"No, I'm not," Cheetara denied.

"You are," WilyKat said now chuckling at Cheetara.

Cheetara rolled her eyes. She wasn't going to argue and embarrass herself, especially in front of WilyKat, a kitten. "I don't have anything to be embarrass about. I'm a happily married woman."

"It shows," Panthro said joining in on the polite teasing.

Cheetara pushed aside her empty plate and rose from her seat. "Tygra, may I talk to you for a moment?"

"Certainly," Tygra said. He immediately rose from his seat and followed her out of the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lion-O entered the Control Room with I-don't-wanna-do-this look on his face. Panthro was now on monitor duty with Snarf dusting. "I'm off to the Tiger Elders home."

Panthro turned in his chair and chuckled at Lion-O's _expression. "You really don't want to go, huh?"

"I think my face says it all," Lion-O said leaning on side panel.

"The Tigers in Delgore still don't want to negotiate?" Snarf asked.

It looked to be an endless circle for the past two months of Lion-O going back and forth between the Panther and Tiger Elders and the governmental leaders of the Panthers and Tigers living in Delgore. It was a rich piece of land of for farmers with lush green hills and land and a tourist attraction of the beautiful waterfalls and excellent weather, which made it all the more important for an agreement had to be made between the two cats or war would the destroy the beautiful land.

"They'll crack," Lion-O said suddenly confident.

"And if they don't?" Panthro asked. Even though he was a panther, he chose not to voice his opinion to Lion-O. Whatever decision Lion-O will make over the matter, he was going to side with him.

"I'll think of something," Lion-O smiled with the I'm-gonna-win-this look. "I always do." And with that comment, Lion-O turned and left the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Snarf put his cleaning tools back in the broom closet and sighed relieved. The lair was clean for the night, everyone but Lion-O was home and there wasn't any chance for rain that night so there weren't any worries of the floors getting dirty.

Snarf looked over his polished kitchen and smiled. Even he had to admit, he did a really good job cleaning up. Not a speck of dust was anywhere. Snarf left the kitchen and smugly admired his work in the hall. Yep, he was a good cleaner. He wasn't getting old and he was still needed.

Snarf turned to corner and saw a blur of what had to be Cheetara. No one else could run that fast. Why was she running in the lair? In the direction she was going, she was going to the hanger. Curious, Snarf ran and followed. She must be running again, Snarf thought to himself. He saw Cheetara leave the lair before going on nightly runs while Lion-O was gone to his evening meetings with the Tigers and Panthers. Snarf kept quiet about it even though he felt guilty for not telling Lion-O what she was doing. He knew how protective Lion-O was of Cheetara and recalled an incident where Cheetara had to attend an evening function for charity. When Lion-O couldn't make it, he insisted Cheetara had a bodyguard escort. Cheetara wasn't pleased with the idea and the two argued over it. In the end, Panthro escorted Cheetara and Cheetara was silent with Lion-O for a week, which aggravated Lion-O because he realized Cheetara was very furious over the matter when he was only looking out for her.

Snarf entered the hangar to find Cheetara gone. Looking around he saw Cheetara had taken a vehicle-a black hovercar, which meant Cheetara wasn't running. She was going somewhere but where? With the way she ran through the lair, she didn't tell anyone Snarf guessed. Snarf went to his own vehicle--the Scooter. It was small hover vehicle made for Snarf and went very fast or slow but Snarf always kept the speed slow since he didn't like fast vehicles. In this case, he would have to make an exception to keep up with Cheetara. On the gauges of the small vehicle was a small computer. Snarf typed the vin number of the hovercar. All vehicles of the ThunderCats had a vin number which activated a tracking device. It was made to use in emergencies when the ThunderCats are trying to locate each other.

"It is an emergency," Snarf told himself. He had to know where she was going.

Snarf followed the coordinates exactly where it stopped in Amani Country. It was a chain of several large and small islands surrounded by the Malu Ocean. All the lands were lush and green decorated with the pleasant aromatic flowers and soft white sandy beaches. The population of the islands were varied as it served for vacation spots. The only island Cheetara would go is Reina island, the largest island in Amani Country and owned by her and Lion-O as their vacation home where they are on the only people allowed on the island. Why would she go there without Lion-O?

Snarf lowered his vehicle closer to the water as he saw Cheetara land hers. He saw a light on in the home she and Lion-O shared and someone walking passed the light and thought that as very suspicious. Cheetara stepped out of the vehicle and she wasn't in her ThunderCat uniform. In fact, Cheetara looked dressed for evening entertainment in curvaceous black dress that even made Snarf blush. What shocked him even more was seeing someone come out of the home wearing a cloak. The figure was a large build so it had to be a male. His mouth fell opened when Cheetara embraced and kissed the man.

Snarf couldn't believe his eyes. Cheetara was kissing a man that wasn't Lion-O. She was having an affair.

To Be Continued

What?!?!? There's no way that Cheetara can be cheating on Lion-O...can she?

Go to Part Two!

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