Hi, so for those of you who are wondering what's going on, this story is being corrected of any mistakes. The story has indeed turned out longer than I originally intended it, but regardless, it is still the same story. I am just editing some minor errors and tweaks. Enjoy! ;)

Chapter 1. Love and War.


"Satine! Stay here and keep your head down!"

Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore crouched down under a small cavern that had been hidden near the outside of the palace. Her ears rang relentlessly from the explosions of bomb shells and the bursts of blaster fire.

"I can help!" She argued against her protectors orders. Her brow furrowed and her oceanic eyes narrowed, showing the other person standing mere centimetres away her annoyance and determination. "Violence isn't the answer to this, nor will the clones who continue to fight along with you Jedi!"

The man before her froze, startled by her statement. Satine was sure she spotted a gleam off annoyance in his eyes. His free hand balled up into a tight fist, whilst his lightsaber bearing arm clutched his thin silver and gold saber hilt. The taller figure took a deep and calming breath.

"Sometimes a best defence is a swift and decisive offence, Satine…" The cored accent gently breathed. "I'm not letting you walk out there and get yourself killed… even if for the right of peace."

Satine stared up at his angular shadowed face in disbelief. Tears welled up in her eyes.

Oh, Obi-Wan. You've changed… This war has changed you. What happened to the good man I knew who would walk through the array of fire and fight for peace with words… not with a lightsaber…

Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi stared deeply at her, his blue-grey eyes swimming with emotion. Satine could see that he wanted a peaceful negotiation just as much as she; but he would not risk it for the sake of her life. She even spotted something else too.

He cared for her safety. Perhaps too much. When he was around her he did whatever it took to protect her. He has from the beginning. He has and always will. It was a need to protect her from whatever force wished to silence her. He protected her from Death Watch on Concordia; fighting to the death against Vizla. On the coronet he panicked and did whatever he could to keep her alive. He nearly struck down Merrik to save everyone, even her - even if it meant losing her respect. He proved himself a worthy and defiant protector of the pacifist duchess once more on Coruscant, helping her prove her innocence in a conspiracy that Death Watch had devised.

Now here he was again on Mandalore once more. Her Knight in shining armour.

"I need to go now," he said to her, his eyes left her face for a moment, flickering to the on-coming armada of Death Watch followers; led by Pre Vizla himself. "Please just - just stay here." Satine's eyes narrowed dangerously again. "Please, for me." He pleadingly whispered to her, his voice slightly breaking as he tried to control his conflicting emotions within.

Satine couldn't disobey him there. Those silent words laced with the emotion he had given up and hidden away for many years came rising up in that one desperate plea. She looked at him once more longingly to be met with an icy stare. Bowing her head in defeat, she let him go.

Obi-Wan's gaze turned soft again; relieved she was going to stay where she was - safe. He turned on his heel, his reddish leather boot gliding and squealing along the marble floor, and began to walk away.

Satine did not know what composed her to move towards his retreating figure, but her mind screamed at her to stay put; whilst her heart said otherwise. Her heart sang to her, telling her to go to him. She followed her heart and approached him hastily. "Obi!" She grabbed his sleeve, her nimble fingers clinging onto the cream-coloured cotton material. He turned to face her; his eyes glaring at her frightened and desperate oceanic and moon-like ones. He turned his eyes back towards the battlefield quickly and then back to stare at hers which were inches in front of him.

He heaved an exasperated breath, attempting to keep his boiling frustration from rising over his self- control. "Satine… Go back into the cavern… It's not safe out here."

"I know that but-"

"Satine," he cut her off suddenly. "Go. Back. Now. For the sake of-"

Before he could finish his sentence, let alone barely take another breath, Satine's soft, coral shaded lips were pressed softly against his. 'NO!' He urgently thought saddened by the forbidden emotions he would never be able to indulge on - only dwell upon. He pulled away from her surprisingly slowly and hesitantly. Satine saw the struggle within from the look of pain that staked his heart through his now tearing beautifully endless eyes.

"No... Do not distract me wondering on what life might have been like had I left the Order to remain with you, or what I am now whilst on the battlefield, Satine. We made the decision years ago. Do not expect me to go back on it." He said to her dangerously, though his eyes held another story. Another truth.

"I'm not asking you to choose, nor am I distracting you. I simply did what my heart yearned for. It's a promise to you that I'll stay here and to remind you of what once was."

"Satine, one must focus on the here and now, not what once was." He recalled one of Qui-Gon's teachings, delicately brushing her hand off his sleeve.

"Spare me the lecture Kenobi!" Satine snapped fervently at him, causing a shocked expression to shape his handsome face as if he had been slapped on the cheek. "Do not force down my throat the teachings that Qui-Gon so did with you! I am not a Jedi! I have a right to allow my mind to wander into the past or of what could have been. I simply give you a promise and simply ask if you do think of the past. Of what we had."

Obi-Wan shut his eyes tightly as his breath hitched inside his chest. His aching heart pounded within his chest as if trapped by a cage; the forbidden heart welled with forbidden emotions wishing to break out.

"Yes..." He finally conceded, closing his eyes and looking away from her and directing his eyes towards the ground. He brought them back up to meet hers. "...I have thought of the past… Of what we once had. I don't deny that, or what I still feel now. But please… Do not lock me up in a cage that is inescapable… Otherwise I won't be the man you know now."

"You aren't the man I know now!" Satine shrieked at him from the top of her voice. "The war has changed you! I don't know where that man is! All I see is a Jedi; the man is trapped inside! Yearning to break out!"

"A Jedi is what I am, Satine. It's who I am. There's no time to just be solely a man when one is constantly fighting across the galaxy." Obi-Wan grumbled through clenched teeth.

"What happened!" She yelled in response. Obi-Wan stared down at his reddish boots, shifting his weight from side to side like a naughty school boy who had been found guilty of sneaking the last unhealthy snack. "You used to be more of a man than a Jedi! You also always found an alternative to everything. What happened? You would risk anything for peace. You - you would walk through all this fire without so much as sending a single blaster bolt back towards the shooter and would negotiate peace. Force, you would die for it."

"I still do, Satine," he replied sharply. "I still would die for peace, but these men do not want peace right now. They want death - so much death... and bloodshed. They want you're dead corpse lying on that piece of ground right now where you stand."

Satine now looked down at her own feet, shifting uncomfortably. Never had she seen Obi-Wan like this before.

"Right now you may or may not see the man I used to be. However he will risk it all. I'm risking peace for you. But I will not risk you're life. The war has changed me, correct you are. But I fight every day in the hopes of peace. To protect innocents…to protect… you. That's what I think whilst I fight. I see myself fighting for you. The knowledge that winning this war means that you will be safe. I have feared for your life many times, and it doesn't get any weaker; it just continues to grow stronger. I always seem to imagine that that innocent lying helplessly on the ground wounded is you - and I help them; seeing it as you who I'm holding in my arms, praying to the Force that it will spare you. That innocent who is held at gunpoint, and only I can save them from death - I see that innocent as you; and I race to them. I take the shot instead; glad that it's not them. I have many scars, Satine. You haven't seen them, nor do I wish you to. Many of my scars are for the innocents. Some I hold for you; especially one in my heart. I will always fear for you and I will fight until this war ends if it ensures you're safety." It was a promise - and a hard one it was to keep; though the raw determination was evident in his voice and eyes.

"You can't see them all as me," she stuttered weakly, her knees felt like jelly - and Satine felt sure she was going to buckle under the weight.

Obi-Wan gazed at her and slowly raised a hand to stroke her cheek with a long and rough finger, his hand turning so it cupped her cheek. Satine rested her cheek on his warm, calloused hand, finding the touch somehow very gentle. Perhaps as gentle as the man's open heart - A calloused hand from wielding a lightsaber - a Jedi's weapon. This hand had been washed in blood. Right now she didn't care, for it had been all for freedom of the galaxy, for innocents… for her. She closed her eyes and kissed his thumb as it traced her coral lips.

She muttered a small, and near inaudible "No…" to which Obi-Wan heard.

He touched her chin with two of his fingers and gently lifted her face up to his so she was looking directly at him. He leaned his face close to hers so that she could feel his hot, sweet breath on her face. She felt the coolness of his lips as they brushed the side of her face softly when he spoke.

"But I do, Satine. I will always fear for you. I'll fight for you to the death - and one day may you not have to live in fear as I do for you." His lips had gently brushed her cheek as he had slowly begun to descend to her own lips. Satine had closed her eyes in an attempt to wash away the growing tears, only to open to find new and fresh tears in their place, blearing his angelic and perfectly sculptured face.

"I will say it, and I pray that it may be the last I say it-" His lips were so close to hers now that she could feel the moisture on them from when he previously licked his lips. Anyone who stood near would think they were actually kissing. A few more inches and in reality they would. "I love you Satine." He breathed against her mouth softly, his breath entering her parted lips. "I loved you fifteen years ago, and I still love you now. You as well as the Force know I do."

Satine could not believe the words; but what she couldn't believe more was how much it hit her. She could believe that it may be the last time she would ever hear it from him, to which she had listened to intently. 'I still love you Satine. You as well as the Force I do.' Those words replayed in her mind as she memorized his softly spoken voice breathing them to her. She memorized his lips against hers softly - his warm and sweet intoxicating breath entering her mouth as she breathed him in.

That's when she realised that those things she was memorizing were in reality happening right now!

Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master, and General was kissing her - the esteemed Satine Kryze, Duchess of Mandalore. His wet and soft lips were against hers, kissing her softly yet passionately. The kiss had meaning, and she responded to it, shaping her thin lips to his. She sighed in contentment to kissing him as he released, a small breath; her breathing in his scent of soap and ash - and she loved it. He struggled to hold on to her as his forbidden emotions and Jedi teachings screamed at him to stop. In order to hold on, he ran a soft, wearing hand through her long, blonde and wavy locks that fell loosely down her back.

Finally, after several long minutes, in which both humans opinion had gone all too quickly, their lips parted slowly, regaining oxygen that they both desperately needed to fill their lungs. Satine's hands resting on the chest armour he wore over him, her eyes focused only downwards at his chest. Satine sent a silent prayer.

I may not do this much, for I have no ability in the Force whatsoever, but, please. Do what you can to protect this brave and kind-hearted sole, for he has done so much - suffered so much. Protect him for me. Bring my Knight in shining armour home to me- home to his family, for he belongs with the Jedi. But please let him also know that he has a place to reside within my heart.

Obi-Wan ran his one hand in her hair downwards, his fingers tangling in the curly and loose locks that cascaded down her back. His eyes were half closed as he looked down at her in sadness.

"Love at war…" Obi-Wan heard Satine's muffled murmur against his armour.

"What?" Obi-Wan asked confused at her choice of words.

Satine raised her head from his chest and leaned back slightly, Obi-Wan's hands supporting the small of her back. She raised her eyes to stare up at his perfectly sculptured face.

"Love at war," she repeated. "Our hearts are in conflict with each other's; others hearts and our own."

"It's a war we cannot win," Obi-Wan replied silently that Satine strained to hear.

"Perhaps not, but maybe one day this war will end…"

"And then maybe we can finally have what our hearts want," Satine stared endlessly at him, trying to decipher what he meant. He revealed the riddle to her. "The galaxy is changing Satine. And the Jedi must change along with it, or never move on. If they refuse to move, I will hand over my lightsaber and dismiss myself from the Order."

"I can't let you do that!" Satine gasped in response to his words, utterly shocked at the words and tone of his voice. "It would be a selfish thing to do!"

"My decision, Satine,"

A rocking explosion disturbed the moment, filling the orange sky with a chalk of black smoke. Obi-Wan turned his head back towards the oncoming armada.

"I'm ending this," he said defiantly.

"Be careful Obi. Come back to me. Don't leave me in this world knowing that you're no longer in it."

He stroked her hair lovingly before whispering his response to her.

"I will come back to you Satine. I promise. You won't live in a world without my existence…" He whispered gently into her ear, his sweet and hot breath brushing the tender cartilage and pink skin.

He let her go, his fingers slowly and hesitantly untangling themselves from hers, though he desperately wanted to hold on.

Making sure she crawled back under her shelter. He used the Force to place a small shield around the area she sat inside, protecting her. The use of it drained him a bit, but he would regain his energy quickly. He finally turned towards the battle after giving her one last final and longing look and walked away.

Satine's oceanic eyes remained locked on his retreating back until he had gone down the hill, disappearing from her sight; the only recognition of him was his blazing blue blade as it deflected streaks of red and green and various other dazzling colours of blaster fire.


As I said before, this is just an editing of the entire story. Reviews are still welcome of course. ;)