Grinnin' Jedi
A/N: Allright, this is my first attempt at a fanfic and hopefully it will go well. My initial inspiration for this fic was in how few good Star Wars/Bleach crossovers there are compared to others. I honestly think there is some great potential there that has yet to be explored. "STAR WARS – CLONE WARS – The deflected Jedi – Naruto" by ares88 and "Naruto of the Force" by The True One-Winged Angel particularly inspired me to come up with this story. It will be about our favorite shinigami Gin Ichimaru as he is trained by the jedi and later participates in the Clone Wars. But on whose side?
A/N: Gin will not be a shinigami in this fic or possess any shinigami powers. Instead, he will be an exceptionally strong force user who basically excels in everything he does. I am still undecided as to whether or not I will include any other Bleach characters in the story, but if I do they will also be made into force users to help it run more smoothly.
A/N: The story will be set in the Star Wars Universe and follow the basic Clone Wars storyline. I will occasionally insert elements in from Bleach however, in order to help Gin's transfer into the story. Wookieepedia will be my main source so you can look there if you feel the need for more info. But before we get into the wars, we will first be following the background story of our second main character, one of my favorites, Aayla Secura!
Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by Kubo and Star Wars by Lucas. I got nothing!
A/N: This first chapter takes place about 5 years before Episode I. Gin is currently 6 and so is Aayla.
Remember to Review!
PROLOGUE: The Silver Haired Boy
"Come young Aayla! Faster than you, Yoda should not be!" A small green jedi master barked at a young twilek straggling behind the group of younglings with him, gazing at the skies overhead. "Miss the ship you will if any slower you are!"
"Sorry Master Yoda!" The girl replied as she ran to catch up. "I won't lag behind anymore in the future, I promise!" Despite having lived on Coruscant for 4 years now, Aayla was still constantly amazed at the speed and movement of the traffic that soared across the planet day and night.
"Apologize, you need not. Concerned I simply am that you might miss our trip." Yoda told her warmly. He was referring of course, to the annual Younglings Expedition in which the current group of future Jedi were taken to a selected planet in order to learn more about the galaxy they would someday protect.
Eventually, the younglings arrived at the spaceport where the flight to their destination, Ord Mantell, was stationed. Waiting for them was the esteemed Jedi Battlemaster, Cin Drallig, who had agreed to accompany Yoda in overseeing the younglings in one of the rare instances he left the temple grounds.
"You're late my old friend," he teased his former teacher.
"Never late a Jedi is Master Drallig," Yoda retorted "Simply early everyone else is."
"Well I'll be sure to remember that saying from now on," the battlemaster chuckled, "I was only concerned about our pilot as he seems very anxious for us to be our way."
"Dawdle no longer we will then, to Ord Mantell we go."
XXXXXXXXXX
As the ship traveled through hyperspace, Yoda took the opportunity to educate his class on the planet they would be visiting. "About Ord Mantell, what do we know?"
"It's in the Bright Jewel Cluster." A young togruta answered.
"Good, what else know we?"
"It used to be an important military base for the Republic." A mirialan said quietly.
"Another good response. Anything more?"
"Master Windu said it's one big junkyard!" An eager zabrak yelled out.
Yoda chuckled "And not far off Master Windu is either. But not why we are going there that is. Going there we are to observe the capital city of Worlport. There will the governor give us a tour of the entire city."
As Yoda finished, Master Drallig walked in. "We should be dropping out of hyperspace at any moment now. If you want to get a good look at the planet I suggest you get over to the windows." The younglings quickly scrambled over each other all wanting to be the first to see their destination. No one was more eager than Aayla and her friend Xiann as the planet came into view.
"It doesn't look that special." Aayla pouted having expected something more ... stunning to say the least.
"Don't be so whiney, maybe it looks better once we get planetside." Her friend said hopefully. A few hours later however, Xiann could clearly say that she was dead wrong about it looking any better on the ground. The spaceport they had landed in seemed to be full of strange, shady aliens and people that you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley alone. The only people that seemed relatively normal was a human in uniform surrounded by several guards that was approaching them quickly.
"Masters Yoda and Drallig, let me just say that on behalf of the peoples of Ord Mantell we are honored to have been chosen as the site of this year's Youngling Expedition." The human said as he bent over to shake the ancient Jedi Masters hand.
"And honored are we, to have received such a warm reception Governor Kiiran." Yoda politely responded "Know we do how busy your schedule is to have taken this time to guide us on our trip."
"It's no trouble really, I'm happy to help. Do you wish to begin the tour now?" Yoda nodded and indicated to Master Drallig to take control of the class. The human quickly turned to address the group.
"Now, the rules for this trip will be as follows: 1) Stay with the group and do exactly as Master Yoda and I tell you. Part of being a Jedi is knowing when to obey orders. 2) If for whatever reason you choose to disregard that first rule be sure to stay with a friend. Two heads are better than one and you're more likely to be kept safe that way. 3) Most importantly DO NOT go anywhere near the junkyard outside the city limits. If you do I cannot guarantee that you will return from this trip safely. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Master Drallig!" the class responded.
"Very good, Governor you may proceed."
"Thank you Master Drallig. Now children over here is one of Ord Mantell's most famous locations ..."
XXXXXXXXXX
A few hours later, the tour was over and the class was preparing to leave. Master Drallig was doing a head count of the students to make sure nobody had been left behind, while Yoda had a last minute conversation with the governor about the planet's current level of stability. As he counted however, Master Drallig realized that not everyone was currently present. He sighed in frustration, this being the exact scenario he had wanted to avoid. "A problem there is Master Drallig?" the wizened Jedi Master asked as he made his way over to the group.
"I'm afraid there is Master Yoda. We're short one Youngling and guess which one it is."
Yoda frowned thinking of only one Youngling who could've possibly disregarded Master Drallig's rules so recklessly and managed to have snuck away from the eyes of two Jedi Masters. "Getting too old for this I am." He grumbled.
Far away from her class, Aayla wandered around the junkyard, curious as to what could've made it so bad that Master Drallig would forbid anyone going near it. She hadn't wanted to break the rules and the tour had been interesting, but she couldn't help sneaking away without seeing the forbidden junkyard at least once to satisfy her curiosity. She'd always been good at sneaking around, so it wasn't that hard to get away even if it was from two Jedi Masters. The junkyard didn't seem that horrible, just a bunch of old starship and droid parts, and so far she hadn't seen anything relatively dangerous or interesting for that matter. "I should head back now though since Master Drallig probably burst a blood vessel after finding out I left" the young twilek thought to herself smiling as she turned to leave.
"Well, well now. What do we have here?" An alien voice said from behind her. Aayla turned to see a rodian and two weequays approaching her with malicious looks on their faces. "Little girl should not be out here alone by herself." The rodian said with a creepy voice.
"That's – that's okay, I was just going back to my group anyway." Aayla stammered, scared of who these people were and what they wanted.
"Maybe we help. Take little girl to be with 'new' group." The three aliens began approaching her and Aayla quickly decided she didn't want to be here any longer and started running. "After her, don't let her get away!" The rodian, clearly the leader, yelled angrily to his two cronies. Aayla jumped over junk piles and ran with what little of the force she knew, but her pursurers weren't giving up and she could here them closing in behind her. She turned back to see how close they were, only to trip on a pile of junk which sent her tumbling quickly down the hill she'd been on. As she fell, Aayla heard the angry voices of her pursuers fade until she hit the ground and completely blacked out.
XXXXXXXXXX
Aayla slowly felt herself coming back into consciousness by a pointy object that was irritating her lekku. "Oww!" she yelled, "Stop doing that!"
"Doin' what?" a voice asked.
As her world materialized Aayla found herself to be looking at a young silver-haired boy that looked to be about her age. He was dressed in ragged old clothing and was carrying a stick which she assumed was the source of her discomfort. But the most unusual aspect of the boy was his face. His eyes appeared to be closed slits and a huge friendly grin was plastered on his mouth, making her wonder who exactly he was.
"Poking me with that!" Aayla said angrily, pointing to the stick.
"Well that's your own fault for lyin' on the ground like that." The grinning boy said in a joking tone. It was then that Aayla remembered where she was. She was on the junkyard of Ord Mantell and had been running away from those three aliens when she blacked out. Upon looking around Aayla realized she had no idea where she was. This realization caused tears to spring to her face as thoughts began rushing into her mind.
"What if they left without me? Master Drallig said if I left to go to the junkyard I might not return. What if I'm stuck here forever?" Crying into her arms, she wished that she could just go home and leave this horrible place forever.
"What'cha cryin' for?" the boy asked in a voice that sounded confused.
"I'm crying be-because I don't know where my group is and I-I don't know where I am." She managed to get out through her sobs.
"Where was your group at?" he asked, as Aayla noticed the grin seemed to have been replaced by a more serious face.
"They-they were at the spaceport near the city."
The grin on the boy's face quickly returned. "Don't worry I can take ya there!" The boy let out his hand as the girl took it and helped here up.
"Really, you know where it is?" Aayla asked, wiping away her tears.
"Yup, I know where everything is here." As Aayla followed the boy things started looking more familiar and soon she began recognizing the path she had taken. Her spirits soared for a moment as the spaceport came into view, only to be brought down again by a now dreaded voice.
"Well, well looks like we found you again little girl." The rodian said as he and his two lackeys came near them. They appeared to be tired and dirty which led Aayla to believe they must have still been looking for her after they got seperated. "No!" she thought, "Not when we're so close!" The girl doubted she would get away so easily this time with her hunters obviously angry and frustrated at being denied their prey.
"Come quietly this time and maybe we'll –" the rodian stopped in mid-sentence as the boy stepped forward frowning.
"Leave ... NOW." He declared in a strong, demanding voice.
"Y-you, what are- we'll just be going now." The rodian stammered as he and the weequay ran off as fast as their legs could carry them.
"How did you do that?" a now amazed Aayla asked her savior.
"Those guys are all cowards." He replied nonchalantly, "Ya just gotta be tough and they won't bother ya at all."
"Who were they exactly?"
"Slavers, if they had got ya you probably would be somewhere on the black market right now." The realization made her shiver. She knew all about how people would enslave twileks and sell them for their beauty and grace, her own family included among them. It was at this moment Aayla vowed that she would never be as helpless as she'd been here again.
"Aayla is that you?" a familiar voice distantly called out to her.
"Master Drallig!" the girl yelled back as she started running.
XXXXXXXXXX
Master Yoda breathed a sigh of relief as he felt Master Drallig returning with young Secura. It looked liked the governor's search parties would not be needed after all. But wait, something was amiss. There was another stronger force presence traveling with them he did not recognize. As the figures came into view, he found the source of power to be coming from a young, grinning, silver-haired boy that seemed to be walking alongside the two.
"Successful, you appear to have been on your search Master Drallig." Yoda said, his eyes still fixated on the boy.
"Yes, I had some difficulty initially, but it proved to be no problem in the end." As Aayla approached, Yoda noticed how the twilek seemed to shrink as she got nearer to him, no doubt worrying about the future punishment that was to come.
"Worried we were about you, young one. Broke the rules you did in wandereing off alone."
"I know Master Yoda. I should have stayed like you told us to and not left the group to begin with and I should never have gone to the junkyard." Happy that the Youngling appeared to have learned her error, he now decided to focus on her new friend.
"In the past that is, and better we are now because of it. But see I do a new friend you've made. Polite, it would be to introduce him would it not?"
"Oh, right! This is-" Aayla paused as she realized that during her ordeal she'd never even bothered asking the boy his name. Before she could respond however, he answered Yoda's question for her.
"Gin. Gin Ichimaru."
"Well, young Gin thank you I do for helping our friend find her way back to us. Master Drallig take young Secura to be with the others, leave we should before any other catastrophes can occur." As Cin nodded and took Aayla away, Yoda turned again to Gin hoping to unravel more of the mystery behind this boy. "Found Aayla in the junkyard you did, a very dangerous place for one to be."
"Naw, it's fine once you get used to it. Leave people alone and they'll leave you alone once they know not to mess with ya." The whole time he talked, Yoda noticed his smile never faltered once as if it didn't seem to care about the harsh environment or people surrounding it.
"Stay with your family there you do then?" he questioned.
"Nope, Gin don't have any family." With these words Yoda quickly found himself forming a plan in his head. This boy's sheer power almost certainly made him jedi material, that could not be denied. To simply leave him here would not only be a waste of potential talent, but could also be dangerous with a powerful rogue force user on the loose. The fact that they were short on Jedi only added to the need for new recruits. As an orphan there would technically be nothing stopping him from coming with them, the only real impasse being whether or not the boy wished it.
"Know you what I am Gin?" Yoda asked.
"Course, I do. You're a Jedi."
"A great power rests within you. A Jedi too you could be, if come with us you do." Gin paused as if considering the option that had been laid out before him. "Would I get to see that blue girl again?" he asked.
"Yes, if accepted put into her class you would most likely be." The master answered.
The grin on Gin's face got even bigger as he gave his answer.
"Sure, why not."
XXXXXXXXXX
After returning to Coruscant, Master Yoda ordered a convening of the Jedi Council to discuss the future of their new candidate. After everyone was gathered Mace Windu called the council to order.
"While on Ord Mantell, Masters Yoda and Drallig discovered a boy with what they believe to be extremely strong force potential. The boy, Gin Ichimaru, has been brought here to Coruscant for us to decide if he is indeed capable of becoming a jedi." He then clicked a switch on his council seat, "Send him in."
As Gin walked into the room, he looked around observing all the beings assembled before him. "So this is the Jedi Council, the people who decide whether or not you make the cut to begin with. Looks more like a freakshow to me."
"We do not take kindly to people who do not have respect for the appearances of others, young Ichimaru." Master Oppo Rancisis said gruffly.
"Hey, how'd ya know what I was thinkin'?"
"As Jedi we have the ability to probe into people's minds and view their consciousness if we wish to by using the force." Mace replied. Needless to say he was unimpressed with the boy so far, his attitude being nowhere near what he would expect of a future Jedi.
"Hmm, so Jedi can do this to anyone whenever ya want to?"
Master Yarael Poof answered this time, "No, most of the time a jedi will only use this technique if he is in dire need or a dangerous situation."
"So why are ya lookin' at my mind?"
"We simply want to be sure as to whether or not you would be qualified for jedi training." Master Eeth Koth stated.
"Let us move on to the questioning." Mace interjected, wanting to move on to more serious matters. "You told Master Yoda you were an orphan living in the junkyard section of Ord Mantell by yourself. This is true?"
"Yup."
"We were also told by young Secura that drove off three slavers who had been chasing her. How were you able to do this?" Master Koon asked kindly.
"They tried to steal my food from me a couple weeks ago, so I beat 'em up and told them not to bother me anymore. When I saw 'em again I said they should leave and they did." Gin recollected in a pleasant tone much to the council's surprise.
"It would have been difficult for one as young as yourself to have survived such a hazardous environment." Master Tiin questioned, "How were you able do so?"
"I dunno. You tell me Master Jedi." Gin stated almost as if he were goading the Jedi into exploring his mind again. But as Master Tiin attempted to however, he realized he couldn't. All of a sudden the boy's mind was swirling with different thoughts and images moving too fast for even a telepath of his caliber to follow."Incredible, to have formed a counter to the mind probe so quickly after only seeing it used once. It's unheard of." he thought.
"Enough I think we have seen, yes?" Yoda said turning to the other council members. One by one they nodded in agreement. "Go, now you may Gin off to your quarters."
"Huh, but I just got here!" Gin exclaimed with confusion.
"Off with you now Gin, much to discuss about you the council does." After what appeared to be a confused Gin left the room, Yoda turned to his fellow council members. "See you now why I brought him, hmmm?"
"I admit that his skills and countering the mind probe were impressive, but I still say he's too old. We should hold to tradition and raise Jedi from birth as we have always done." Rancisis retorted. Other council members nodded in agreement.
"Please, you always use that line Oppo." Plo Koon countered, "Master Drallig stated his presence was so stong that he was at first hesitant as to whether Secura was with him or not, and Master Yoda clearly saw his potential as well. It would be irresponsible to simply ignore him. I say let the boy train." Once more council members nodded their heads in agreement.
"It will come to a vote then." Mace commanded, "The council shall now decide whether or not Gin Ichimaru should become a Jedi."
"I vote yes. I say give the boy a chance." Ki-Adi Mundi voted.
"I also vote yes." Eeth Koth said agreeing.
Oppo Rancisis snorted, "I vote no. We cannot take this risk."
Yaddle nodded, "Agreed, with the Republic in its fragile state, careful and watchful we must be. Vote no I do."
"I also vote no." Even Piell said bluntly.
"You are all being too harsh," Plo Koon argued "We need to be compassionate and helpful toward others in these troubling times. I vote yes."
Adi Gallia shook her head, "While I agree with you in principle Plo that cannot always be the case. I vote yes however, allowing someone of his strength or skill to simply walk away freely would be foolhardy."
"I vote no. Even if the boy was trained he would be years behind his classmates. Struggling to catch up might easily anger and influence him toward the dark side." Depa Billiba said with a neutral look on her face.
Saesee Tiin had his eyes closed and seemed to be meditating on which side to choose. "Though I had difficulty surmising his intentions, Gin appeared to have had no fear or anger within him. I vote yes."
"I abstain from this vote." Was all Master Poof said.
"My vote will also be no and with 5 masters voting yes, 5 voting no, and Master Poof abstaining, it falls to Yoda to break the deadlock." The council members all turned to the small, wrinkled, green jedi for what the final decision would be.
"On Ord Mantell, helped young Aayla he did with no promise of reward or privilege for himself. Survived the dangers of the planet he did alone, without giving into fear or anger and talented he has already shown himself to be...A jedi he is. Train him we will."
XXXXXXXXXX
A/N: So, did you think it was good? Please review and give your responses because I would really have no desire to continue a fic nobody is going to even bother commenting on or read.