a trilogy in sixteen parts

Summary: Naruto is a naïve farm boy, grown up on a jungle planet. Sakura is the daughter of a senator, princess of her world. Kakashi is a broken Jedi Master in self-imposed exile. And Sasuke… Sasuke is an ass, because, when isn't he? A Naruto/Star Wars cross-over that should not be taken seriously. (Complete in two chapters)

Warning: You know when sometimes you love stuff, like, a lot? Like, cake and pizza, and grilled cheese, and Nutella and ice-cream and that one special brand of apples? Well, simply because you love all of it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a good idea to just mix it all up… You get where I'm going?

Set: story-unrelated.

Disclaimer: Standards apply.

meeting (1)

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I am here to save you?"

Is that a question, she thinks, has the blond, overly enthusiastic clutz that only barely managed to get her cell doors unlocked just stumbled in, tripped over his own tongue and asked her a question that, by all means, should be obvious? Because, of course, Princess Sakura of Alderaan, daughter of Tsunade Senju the respected, sharp-tongued, beautiful Senator, should not be imprisoned in a cold, grey Imperial cell on an Imperial star destroyer no matter how little she looks like her famous mother.

"Or maybe you're here because you want to be?"

A question. Yep, that's definitely a question he's asking her, rubbing the back of his head like an embarrassed, utter fool.

"Of course I don't want to be here!" She hisses at him, already on her feet. "Are you on your own?"

"Oh, no, Kiba's with me, and Akamaru, of course, because the droids that were looking for the old man told us you'd need our help and Kiba's ship was the only one good enough to get up into atmo, you know, there aren't many ships left on Konoha, we have a lot of forest but you can't build space ships with wood so…"

Sakura stares at her – ahem – rescuer for a few precious seconds of time before she just opts to ignore him and rushes past him, her head held high, as if he was some silly courtier she would not deign to acknowledge.

Save yourself, her mother had always said. Nobody else will do it for you.

The farm boy – jungle boy, she thinks, he's from Konoha, for Force's sake – follows behind her, still chatting, completely oblivious to her desperation. In a way, he reminds her of her father: the rambling, the way he hides the intelligence in his eyes behind the façade of a complete and utter fool. Provided he is in possession of a modicum of intelligence, something her mother – but no time for that. He has never seen a star destroyer before, she realizes as she casts him a quick side glance. He's nervous, shifting in his skin, glancing back every second. His obvious discomfort doesn't serve to lessen hers, but at least it makes it easier. For a second, Sakura feels something irrational like thankfulness well up in her –

Something smelly, hairy, panting slams against her with all the force of a moving wookie.

"Down, Akamaru!" Naruto hisses, desperately. "Kiba!"

The thing doesn't stop breathing down her face.

"Hey, it's cool!" Another voice comes from the front. "Akamaru, stand down." Finally, the monster deigns to step back. Sakura is left staring at an almost man-high, wolf-like creature.

"How does he even fit into a ship!"

"Ah, Akamaru might seem a bit raucous, but he's worth his credits when it comes to sniffing out Imperials," the man – Kiba – says cheerfully. "Hello, Princess!"

"There are the intruders!"

They run.

alliance, forced (2)

"Congratulations! You're being rescued. Please don't resist."

Shikamaru programmed the former Imperial Assassination Droid himself, thinking, at that time – yes, what had he been thinking? He couldn't quite remember; vaguely, he recalls a lot of Correllian whiskey and a large amount of credits. Now, the droid's words make him think, idly, that maybe he should have a look at its communication subroutines one more time. Where for kriff's sake has it picked up irony?

The blond woman clearly does not appreciate the humor. She stares at him from where she's flat on her back, having run into Kay-Too's unmoving form.

"I don't need rescuing."

"There is a host of Imperial Stormtroopers following you," Kay-Too informs her. "From this, combined with the fact that you are trying hard not to attract attention, that this is an Imperial data collection center and given the additional information that the Imperials seem to be searching for a blonde female, I calculate an eighty-nine-point-six percent chance that you are an Alliance spy, and will be caught within the next five minutes. If one of the three of us needs help, it's not me or Shikamaru."

The woman looks – well, for one, she looks like she is wearing a mask. There is nothing on her face betraying her thoughts. Even when Shikamaru tripped the two 'troopers that had been hard on her heels a few seconds before, the surprise she must have felt had flashed in her eyes for not more than a second. She's probably a captain when it comes to ranks, operating by herself, and if he ever wanted a short-cut into the Alliance this might be the time and place. But Shikamaru couldn't care less for either the Alliance or the Empire. Troublesome, he thinks. The last thing he needs is being arrested for aiding and abetting an Alliance spy. But she had seemed so desperate.

Two Stormtroopers dash around the corner, their blasters aimed, and –

To hell with it.

Shikamaru stuns both of them.

The woman is on her feet again, whirling to face three more attackers that appear from the second side alley. The speed of her movements is… intriguing. The Stormtroopers are down within seconds.

"If we don't deliver Jabba the Hutt's cargo today," Kay-Too says, unnecessarily, "he'll throw you to the Rancor."

The look of disgust the Rebel spy throws him is pretty easy to read. Shikamaru rolls his eyes, sighs and grasps the woman by her elbow.

"For Force's sake, just accept a bit of help, will you, stubborn woman."

He counts it as a win that she doesn't knee him in the balls.

"I don't need the help of a smuggler." The way she spits out the word one would think it is the worst swear word she knows. (It's not, he heard her swear in at least three different languages before, plus they're now talking Basic.)

Great, Nara. Apparently, chivalry died for a reason.

"Rebel Lady, you can either accept the help of a smuggler," He copies her inflection and sees her eyes darken in anger, "or face those guys back there by yourself."

She tears her arm out of his grip and stares back, her face giving away precisely nothing.

"Lead the way."

It sounds like I will kill you the second I don't need you anymore, and your death will be slow and painful. It makes him smirk.

"Our probability of making it off the planet in one piece has decreased to thirteen-point-four percent."

"Does he ever shut up?"

"Try and make me."

Oh, great. Shikamaru's already regretting this.

farewell (3)

"I believed in you."

His former student laughs in his face, cold, spiteful, and Kakashi is stuck by the achingly familiar pain so intensely he can't breathe. When did it go wrong? Why would it end like this? He looks pale in the ink-black uniform of his, the black cape swirling around his shoulders like a living being. Hs eyes are black, too, with a hint of gold.

The golden Sith eyes shrink to slits. It's a cruel smile.

"Again all that nonsense about hope and love, Master? So naïve. You always were weak. The Council was corrupt until its very core, blocking itself with its own rules and regulations, but you could never see that."

"And you could never see the light in yourself, Sasuke. Itachi believed in you, believed you would make a difference. He wanted you to be happy."

"Don't talk about Itachi!" Sasuke snarls, his entire body tensing. "He's dead! And his blood is on the Order's hands!"

Master; I have failed you. I have failed you in so many ways.

And yet – he has been given a second chance. He doesn't deserve it, hasn't asked for it – and yet. He was needed. Kakashi was needed, he was necessary. Someone relied on him. Someone trusted him. Someone relied on his experience and his knowledge, and the realization makes him feel.. it makes him feel old. Naruto. Naruto, Minato and Kushina's son, brighter than the sun, little Naruto is all grown up. And so is Sasuke, but the difference between them is staggering. It makes Kakashi wonder, not for the first time in the past sixteen years, whether the Jedi really had it all figured out when it came to training only and foremost the young. Look at Naruto, barely even able to lift a boulder, and yet so bright in the Force that it hurts his eyes to look at him. And then Sasuke, next to him: trained from early age, his skills honed and sharp like a blade. Sharp – but brittle, too. Maybe they trained the Jedi too much. Maybe they taught them too many rules and too little about life. Maybe that was why Sasuke had broken, in the end: all his ties to his family cut, his beloved brother dead, young and angry and so utterly, utterly alone.

But nobody of the Order is left alive to uphold the Path, nobody is left except for Kakashi and Sasuke and Naruto. A student, a Master – and a Sith.

And Sasuke snarls and lunges at him, his blade flashing, and Kakashi can't see anything of his former student in the man before him anymore. Not a trace of the boy is left. He always was a brilliant light saber duelist, though, and Kakashi finds he is drawing on the Force more and more. He isn't sure he will be able to kill Sasuke. His former student is strong in ways Kakashi never was. But... From the corner of his eyes, he sees a flash of blonde, blue eyes, he almost expects to hear the beloved, familiar voice – but no. It's Naruto, a horrified expression on his face, and inwardly, Kakashi recoils. How can he load the burden of killing on his young student's shoulders? Naruto already paid so dearly for the sins of the Jedi of Old. But sometimes… Sometimes there's no other way, is it?

Trust in the Force, Kakashi.

And Kakashi – Kakashi does.

"You can't win, Sasuke. Strike me down. I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

Trust in the Force, Naruto.

he's a natural (4)

"Excuse me, is this aircraft occupied?"

"Nah, Red Three is in the med bay now, why're you asking- Hey! Hey, you can't just take the X-wing!"

"What's the matter, mechanic?"

"Sir, there's that guy, he just jumped into the X-Wing and took off!"

"I don't allow unauthorized take-offs on my flight deck – get that man back down immediately!"

"But, Sir, there's a battle raging out there, we can't spare any other pilot to escort him back…"

"Oh, for Kriff's sake! Mechanic, just tell me this man has piloted an X-wing before."

"Sir, I don't think he's ever been inside a space fighter his entire life. He's from Konoha. But, I think-"

"You think, mechanic?"

"I think he is the last Jedi, Sir."

"Blasted backwater jungle planet wannabe heroes!"

siblings, the first (5)

"Sakura."

Ino looks tired, and, nevertheless, brilliant and composed as usual. Silly, stupid, passionate Jiraiya, consort to the former queen of Alderaan and now-senator Tsunade Senju, used to call her sunshine. If she is a sun, Sakura thinks, then Ino is a star: cool, sometimes invisible – but in the darkness: oh so bright!

"Ino!"

They embrace: warmly, familiar. The walls of the Rebel hideout on Hoth are cold around them, but neither of them notices.

"I am so glad you are okay."

"I'm fine," Sakura consoles her sister, pushing away a few strands of Ino's golden hair that has fallen out of her usual, tight braid. "It's you we were worried about! When we didn't receive any message from Jedha, and then they said you'd gone to Scarif…" She swallows, feeling the burn of desperation still lingering in her mouth like an aftertaste. "I thought you were dead."

Ino hugs her again, fiercely. "Sorry. We transmitted the blueprints but they shot down the ship. I had to find another way off-planet. And once I was back they told me you had been sent to find Jedi Master Hatake but Uchiha intercepted your ship."

For a second, Sakura is there: in the cell of the cold, cold ship, dark, familiar eyes burning into hers. Where are the blueprints? Nothing left of the boy she once loved, nothing but that cold, dark hatred that burns her alive whenever she– She pushes the thought away angrily.

But Ino notices – Ino always does – and holds her tighter, and then she changes the topic.

"How did you manage to escape?"

Sakura is surprised at the laugh that escapes her. "Some farm boy from Konoha, can you believe it? Just walked into my cell and asked me whether I wanted to stay or to leave. Next thing we are running from Imperials on an Imperial star destroyer, and he's playing with some stupid bells. I'll have to tell you the long version when we've got the time. How did you get away?"

"A smuggler helped me."

Ino… Ino shifts. Sakura notices, because she's her sister, and it makes her wonder.

"The one in the ship that looks like it's falling apart?" Sakura claps her hands to her mouth to stifle a giggle. "The one with the former Imperial droid as a co-pilot?"

Ino doesn't say anything, and that, in itself, is telling. Her sister might be a perfect spy – breathing deception and desperation, her father had always said – but if there is anyone who knows her, it's Sakura. And from what she's seen of the smuggler, she cannot imagine Ino – rigid, cool, purposeful-to-the-end and by-the-book Ino, Ino, the perfect Alliance intelligence officer – on the same ship with that man.

"A smuggler!" She finally crows, further urged on by Ino's expression of absolute loathing. "A smuggler," she repeats, and finally breaks down laughing. "Oh, I can't wait to hear that story!"

Ino elbows her in the ribs in retaliation, although she keeps her strength in check (like always when she's around Sakura, Sakura knows well), but it is totally worth the look on her face.

snowballs in hell (6)

"Have you seen Ino?"

Sakura Senju is beautiful. Even in the white uniform and coat that are standard issue, she stands out.

Their breath puffs out in white, pretty little clouds. Naruto doesn't think he's been this cold before.

"She left for a routine patrol this afternoon, I think," he says and tries very hard not to look at the Princess too much.

She is beautiful in a way that makes him think of warm light dancing through the forest, of the sun setting over the lush, green canopy of the trees. Naruto loves Konoha. He loves the forest, its sounds, the scent of earth and rain. But he also hates it. It is a beautiful world within a sphere, forgotten. His home is an unreal, peaceful place within a galaxy that is at war, and he – he can do nothing at all. Master Kakashi is dead. There is nobody left to teach him or guide him or whatever. Is he supposed to figure this out all by himself?

If the galaxy is depending on the Last of the Jedi, they are so fucked.

And Sakura is so beautiful he can't look at her, so pretty it makes his heart ache, and that's not good because it distracts him from what he needs to be doing.

He feels so, so cold.

(Master Kakashi taught him so much but not enough, it's never enough, his last words haunt Naruto every night because there still is a mad avenger out there and a man cold-blooded enough to slaughter worlds and a temple full of little children, and Sakura looks so sad when someone mentions the name Uchiha, and Ino – Ino –)

Ice. Cold. Whiteness.

Ino.

"What is it?" Sakura asks, and Naruto just so manages to smile at her.

"Nothing. I'm sure she'll be back soon. Sorry. I gotta go, Kiba's waiting for me."

Sakura returns his smile, relieved – Naruto's heart makes a painful lurch – and he turns towards the hangars, breaking into a run the moment she cannot see him anymore.

Four and a half hours and a veritable snow storm later he is back.

Ino is a limp weight in his arms; her eyes are closed, her lips blue and her face a shade of white so stark she looks like – he doesn't really want to think of what exactly she looks like. When he stumbles into the hangar again, Shikamaru turns around the corner and catches sight of them.

The swear words he utters, Naruto thinks, somewhat amused despite his exhaustion, he must have picked up from Ino.

He relieves Naruto of her dead weight (not dead, not dead, you're not going to die I dare you) peculiarly gently and Naruto feels something deep within snap back. His knees buckle. Suddenly, he realizes he's been drawing on the Force the entire time, and he hasn't even noticed.

"Med Bay," he mutters, and follows Shikamaru. They're halfway there when the blasted sirens go off.

This time, they curse in tandem.

Attention, Echo Base. This is General Rieekan. The location is compromised. Initiate protocol Kay One Zero. All units, proceed to the designated evacuation sites. Freighter pilots, prepare to take on noncombat personnel first.

"Uchiha is getting annoying," Shikamaru says. "What-"

Echo Base, we are under attack from ground troops. Prepare for ground assault.

"Take Ino," Naruto shouts at Shikamaru over the sudden, drowning rush of activity in the corridor. "Keep her warm!"

This time, Shikamaru only mumbles something in response and takes off at a run. Naruto turns into the other direction.

Don't die, Ino, I dare you!

Something – a feeling, a sensation – makes him stop in his tracks again abruptly. It rocks through him, hot and cold, familiar and alien at the same time. It takes root within him, grows, and suddenly –

"Uzumaki! We don't have all the time in the world! Move!" Kiba shoves him towards the X-wing that somehow became his after his mad attack run on the Death Star and continues on to his own U-wing, Akamaru hard on his heels. "See you out there!"

They run.

They fight.

Somehow, they survive. Others don't.

It's horrible, the losses he can feel, the death. So many people he can't save because he is too damn weak. At least he hears Shikamaru's gruff voice announce that he has Princess Senju and Captain Yamanaka on board, he hears Echo Base ground control declare complete evacuation, and Sakura is there, as usual, at the edge of his consciousness, until lights explode around her and Shikamaru's Falcon jumps into hyperspace. And then, somehow, it is over.

Rendez-vous coordinates are programmed. Artoo is beeping merrily.

And as Naruto reaches for the lever that will take his X-wing to hyperspace, he hears a voice in his head. If he wasn't so accustomed to Kakashi's Force apparition by now, he probably wouldn't have recognized it for what it was. But even then, it is fairly hard not to listen to a voice when it drips with so much authority and disdain.

If you want to defeat the Emperor and Uchiha, your next destination is Dagobah.

And:

Otherwise, stop wasting my time.

it's a trap (7)

"Are you sure we're safe?" Sakura asks, for the umpteenth time, and Shikamaru sighs.

"Yes. He's an old friend of mine. He won't rat us out to Uchiha."

Problem is: he does not sound so sure of it, himself.

Ino can sympathize. She really can. Where are they supposed to go? He has a princess on board and, as much as she hates it, a high-ranking Alliance intelligence officer suffering from severe hypothermia. Uchiha – the Emperor – would have a field day with them if they caught up to them; there are few people higher on the Emperor's – no, on Uchiha's Most Wanted-list than Sakura, right now. The hyperspace engine of the decrepit, old piece of junk Shikamaru calls his ship is damaged. They need spare parts and time to replace the broken ones, and they need a safe place. Ino's not stupid, she wouldn't have survived as a spy otherwise. She needs to rest. As it is, she can barely stop shaking, and exhaustion is making her hallucinate.

(Shikamaru looks at her with something that is almost softness in his eyes, and yep, she's definitely hallucinating.)

So Cloud it is.

"You should rest," Sakura says, lovely in a pink evening gown – courtesy of Cloud's Administrator – and she looks worried, so Ino probably still looks horribly sick.

"I'm joining you," Ino says, instead, waving away her stepsister's worries, and warily eyes the midnight-blue dress draped over the bed in front of her.

"Stubborn to the end," Shikamaru mutters behind her, and she whirls around to glare at him – at least; she wants to but her sense of equilibrium deserts her and she stumbles. He grabs her arm and Ino is, idiotically, glad for how steadfast he is. It feels like holding on to a rock, like finally something in her ever-shifting life is there-

"I don't need your help."

"No, you don't."

The lack of expression in his face makes her want to strangle him.

(Kettle, black-)

The dining quarters are beautiful, cream-colored walls with delicate, dream-like inked pictures adorning them. The large window faces towards the sunset. The clouds are the shade of Sakura's hair.

"I am sorry," Sai says, looking at Shikamaru, and Ino feels the air being sucked out of her lungs. "They arrived shortly before you."

"Troublesome," the smuggler mutters and she loathes him, how could he, isn't he aware that he's allowing a Princess to be delivered to the Emperor, that Sakura's the one person Uchiha has wanted to possess since forever. How could he trust this man? How could she have trusted him?

"Look, Lady-"

"Don't talk to me."

He does as he is told, and it hurts even more.

"What should we do with the smuggler?" A 'trooper asks Uchiha, and the bastard doesn't even glance back.

"I hear there is a bounty on his head. Freeze him in Carbonite and send him back to the slug. Make sure to collect the credits."

No.

"Sas- Uchiha, you can't freeze him in Carbonite, it's dangerous-"

He lifts a hand, and time stops. "Don't force me to hurt you, Sakura."

No.

Ino can fight. She was born to fight, trained to fight her entire life. She can kill a man with a blaster and without, she can run and hide, place traps, pilot ships. She can strategize, act and wait. As Sakura was trained to be a princess and a diplomat, Ino was trained as an intelligence operative, and she is good. She knows she is good. She knows she can fight. And she won't let them take Shikamaru because it is her right, hers alone, to make him pay for his carelessness. She won't allow that bastard Uchiha to take him–

She doesn't make it past the second trooper.a

"You know, Ino," Uchiha says, and his lips twist into a cold grin. "I always thought you were the reasonable one out of all of them."

(Someone is screaming.)

No. No. Nonono-

"Ino, calm down, Ino-"

"No-"

"Freeze him."

"NO! No, please, don't–"

"It's okay, Rebel Lady," Shikamaru says, and his infuriating smirk is the last thing she sees.