Chapter7
Ilum was so not a happy place.
We landed the ship (Obi Wan-sensei was actually the pilot), and I looked out the window, waiting to see the sun(s) gleaming upon a gorgeous lake or ocean. But all that was visible was solid white. A blizzard, a snowstorm.
"We're here," murmured my sensei, smiling fondly. He was having a pleasant flashback. I could tell.
"Whatcha' rememberin'?" I asked quirkily.
"Oh, I was just thinking about the time I came here with Master Qui Gon. He told me that I should get a blue on green lightsaber, but I wanted a black one," He chuckled lightly.
"Is there even such a thing?"
"No actually. But that's how I ended up with this old one," He gestured to his waist, where he kept his lightsaber. "While his back was turned, looking for a normal old blue crystal, I picked a special-looking black crystal and created my lightsaber. Only later did I figure out that it was actually a blue crystal covered in soot."
"Was he mad?"
"No, not at all. Quite the contrary, actually. He chuckled and said 'You could have told me you wanted it custom-made'. It was quite the laugh between us."
I smiled and nodded slowly. Then I jumped to my feet. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going!"
"Come now, Sakura," groaned Master Obi Wan, "You must wait for an old man."
"Yuh-huh." I said skeptically. I had seen this guy move better then a few of the people in the year below mine.
We shared a quick laugh, then started to make our way through the snow to the cave that held the crystals. I took my first step out into the storm, and immediately thought of the last time I had been somewhere so cold—when I had faked my love for Naruto to get him to stop going after Sasuke. I had been so horribly selfish, as I had wanted to kill Sasuke personally.
A tear slowly ran down my face, and then almost froze there. I wiped it away quickly and was done with it. But Obi Wan-sensei caught my movement and laid a hand softly on my shoulder.
"We're almost there. Then we'll be out of this wind," he said reassuringly.
Finally, we found our refuge in the humungous glittering and, apparently, secret cave. The first thing I did was sit down and cry with happiness. I was finally going to start to make my way back home after I found Naruto and Shikamaru in this horrifically crazy world.
Master Obi Wan nodded reassuringly. He knew what I was thinking. "We'll find them soon, Sakura. You're not alone in this."
"I know," I sighed deeply, then said firmly with a slight smile, "Now let's get my lightsaber made."
He grinned and we made our way to the center of the main chamber. "Do you know what color you're looking for?"
"Not at all. I'll know what I want when I see it."
Then we began our search. I gazed at legions of blue crystals, hordes of green crystals, and smaller clusters of purple crystals—Obi Wan-sensei said those weren't as easy to use. I looked for hours and hours, probably because I hadn't the faintest idea of what I was looking for.
But then I saw it.
Was it a crystal? Sure. Normal? No. Stereotypical? Nuh-uh. By any means, standard? Naw tat ahll, dahling (And Naruto says I can't do accents—ha!). It was so unique and different that a snail and a cheetah were more closely related than this gorgeous stone was to the rest of its kind.
"Sensei?"
"Hm?"
"I want that one."
I gestured with my finger to the highest part of the domed walls, right to the stone.
He thought, with his eyesight, that this was just a regular old stone. "If you can get it, you can have it. That's the temple's policy. But make sure it is what you think it is."
We both smiled and I giggled with a small nod. Then I started up the walkway, and it led me until I was about fifty feet away from where the crystal was. I pulled out a kunai knife, but then rethought my decision. I mean, my crystal was embedded in rock, and I didn't want to waste any tools that I might need later. The Force, I thought suddenly. IcantrytousetheForce topullitout!
I breathed deeply and shut my eyes. I imagined the crystal breaking out of the wall and coming to my hand. My eyes snapped open when I felt something sharp-ish hit my hand. I looked down at my palm. It was only a teeny shard of the crystal, and it had cut me, and the wound was stinging painfully. I quickly healed myself, but then it came to me.
Ihadtolevitatemyself.
I swallowed almost audibly at the thought of trusting my life to something I had been working with for only three months, and that I was still crappy at controlling. I looked down at Obi Wan-sensei, who was now sitting on the ground. He smiled wryly at me, clearly telling me I was getting myself into this.
Well,he'snohelp. I thought sardonically.
I turned back to my mission: to get my crystal. My crystal. My mission.
Wait,I told myself, WWND?WhatwouldNarutodo?
Youdumbass!My subconscious *apparently* told me, because now, I'm apparently talking to myself. Narutowouldgivehiswordthendoit.You'rehisGIRLFIRENDforPete'ssake!Howwouldyounotknowthat?
"Fine!" I said out loud, freak that I am. Then I thought about reaching for the crystal.
My feet left the ground, I freaked out, and my feet slammed back down.
"Keep going, young padawan!" shouted Obi Wan-sensei. "You've almost got it, Sakura!"
I nodded and smirked at myself. I was being stupid. I already knew I could do this. I thought about Naruto, his strength, his smile, his determinedness, his damn obliviousness. Then Shikamaru crossed my mind, his laziness, his little jokes about Naruto and me, his catchphrase "What a drag", the passionate person waaaydeep inside him. These wonderful thoughts about some of the best people in my world were propelling me upward towards my goal.
Then I truly realized that I was using the Force. My feet were dangling over a hundred-and-fifty feet in the air, and I wasn't freaking out like I thought I would be. It was actually quite refreshing, almost like I was flying (as cliché as that is).
My fingers grazed the ceiling, and I was jerked out of my half-stupor. I fell for what felt like minutes, but was just an instant. I regained my composure and began to rise again. I was at the very top again, my hand on the crystal that would soon be in my lightsaber. I concentrated almost half my chakra to my right hand as I used my super-strength to pull the crystal free. It came loose in my hand, and more joyous tears ran down my face.
I lost my previously careful concentration and fell twenty-five feet, fifty feet, more and more, faster and faster. I was starting to lose consciousness. Then all of a sudden, I jerked to a sudden stop and was slowly set down on the ground.
I drifted in and out of consciousness for the next hour, or what felt like an hour. It was probably only a few minutes in real life. Obi Wan was speaking to me.
"The crystal…heart…blade," I could see through my lashes that my crystal hovering over Kenobi-sensei's hand.
"…Heart…crystal of the Jedi." One half of the beginning of a hilt came to my jewel.
"…Jedi is the crystal…Force." There went the other half, and I was starting to regain my consciousness. I sat up a little bit.
"The Force is the blade of the heart." The inner-hilt went vertical, and Obi Wan-sensei nodded to the outer-hilt that was in two even pieces on the ground beside me. I gestured to them using the Force, and they came to join the creation of my lightsaber.
"All are intertwined," continued Master Obi Wan, "The crystal, the blade." I made the hilt come together. "The Jedi. You are one." I took the lightsaber from where it had been hovering directly in front of me, and I unsheathed it.
Its blade shot out right next to my face, but I didn't flinch. I was one with the blade.
Obi Wan-sensei smiled at my new lightsaber in wonder, probably because it wasn't anything like a regular lightsaber should be. My saber was unique.
My favorite color was pink.
The clothes on my back and my hair were pink.
And now my blade was too.
Ihadthefirst,last,andonlypinklightsaberinexistence.
Sha-zay-um.
