CHAPTER 14

The jungle proved to be harder to get through than it had first looked. For one thing vines and moss grew in strange places on the ground and for another, Shaak Ti, who had left her boots on Utapau, was barefoot and therefore felt every rock and pebble under her feet. The going was rough for the Togruta but she said nothing for worry that Grievous might grump at her. He was seemed to be in a bad mood all of the time and anything she said wouldn't just have him snapping at her. The walking didn't bother him any. He had feet made of durasteel and therefore didn't feel all the little offenders that she did.

"How far is the village?" she asked him after a few hours of walking in silence.

"About a day or two's walk from here," he replied, not looking back at her. "Shorter than that if we don't stop to rest at all."

"Oh," At that moment, she tripped over a vine, falling forward and smacking into the back of his cape.

He grunted as she knocked him slightly off balance then quickly regained his footing and reached behind himself to grab her arm.

"Be careful," he said yanking her in front of him. "You almost knocked me over."

"I'm sorry," she apologized, though she doubted the truth of his claim.

He let her arm go. They resumed walking.

The two hadn't been walking for very long when Shaak Ti felt a disturbance in the Force. Tensing she stopped to listen. She heard a rustling in the trees above her. She looked over her shoulder just in time to see two huge taloned claws come at her!

Shaak Ti's scream caused General Grievous to look behind himself, annoyed at how loud she was being. Didn't she know that the jungle was full of dangerous animals? Then again she'd never been there before so she wouldn't, but surely she should know better anyway. What he saw when he turned made his eyes grow wide with shock.

A giant bird had swooped down on the Jedi woman and had carried her into the sky. "HELP!" she screamed, wiggling in its grasp.

Grievous cursed. Why did she always have to cause some kind of trouble? Now he would have to save her somehow. He ran after the bird yelling and cursing, wondering how he was going to get that blasted bird to let her go before it took her to its nest for dinner, with her on the menu!

That thought was kinda comical and Grievous almost laughed out loud as he chased after the bird and its unwilling meal.

Shaak Ti smacked at the bird's legs, trying to make it let her go. What am I doing? she wondered. I'm a Jedi Master and I'm about to be eaten by a giant bird! Oh, if only Grievous hadn't of taken my lightsaber. Just then her hand rested on something on her belt. What? she looked down at it. A lightsaber handle. What? Where did this come from? Well no matter it will be useful now.

She pulled it off her belt and activated it. The stupid bird, taken by surprise by seeing a huge glowing rod of light appear in front of its face, squawked loudly and let her go.

The next thing she was aware of was her body falling down into the jungle as the giant avian flew off without her.

Grievous looked up when he heard Shaak Ti scream. He stopped right in front of a swamp and stared up at the dot in the sky that was getting bigger with every passing second.

What is that?

Suddenly that dot took on a form and the cyborg's vision was suddenly filled with a red skinned, brown robed, body slamming into his face.

"GAH!" he groaned, as he was knocked backwards into the swamp. Mud shot up everywhere.

"Oh," Shaak Ti groaned lifting her head as she pushed herself up. "What did I run into?"

She heard Grievous moan.

She looked up. She saw him staring at her with glaring golden eyes. "Oh!" she gasped pushing herself up and off of him. "I'm so sorry!"

Grievous grabbed her arm and pulled her off of him. She plopped into the mud as he stood. "You'd better be," he grumbled, looking down at her.

"I said I was sorry!" she shot back. She looked down at her clothes which were now as dirty as he was. "Look what you did!"

"It never would have happened if you hadn't of dropped your guard," he informed her, folding his arms across his chest.

She felt the need to defend herself. "It's not my fault that stupid bird grabbed me!"

"That bird wouldn't have grabbed you if-" he gave up. There was just no arguing with Jedi. They were so stubborn and always thought they were right, especially the women. Female Jedi were the worst, they were even worse than nagging wives. "Forget it, woman. There's no point arguing about it." He put out his hand. "I'll help you up."

The Jedi woman stared at his hand a minute, totally shocked by his change of manners. What the?

"Well," he said impatiently.

"Thank you." She lifted her hand and rested it in his durasteel palm. He gave a mighty heave and pulled her to her feet so fast she staggered forward and smacked into his chest.

He grunted on impact then she felt his hand rested on her shoulder. She took a step back and stared at him. His hand stayed where it was. Is he flirting? For some reason, part of her wished he was.

"You're blushing, Jedi," he said flatly.

She gasped and put her hands on her cheeks. She felt hot. How embarrassing! She was blushing! This not how a Jedi is suppose to think! Breathe, Shaak Ti! Calm down! she took a few deep breathes and felt better. That's it. Try to remember that you're a Jedi. If you keep thinking the way you have been recently you'll find yourself getting into a lot of trouble.

"Is there something wrong?" Grievous asked, tilting his head.

"No!" she gasped, backing away from him, turning her face away so he couldn't look at it anymore. "I'm fine! Nothing wrong here!"

"Are you sure?" he asked, not about to let her get away with that answer. "Are you hurt?" He got close again. "Let me look at your wound."

She tried to back away but he grabbed her and pulled her toward him. His metallic hands explored the area where her wound was. He saw it was healing nicely, though it had some mud on it which he quickly brushed off.

All this time Shaak Ti's heart was pounding. She felt strange, light headed, totally not like herself.

What's going on with me? It's just Grievous...

"There seems to be no infection," he said letting her go,"Let's keep moving."

He touched her shoulder as he walked by, an indication that he wanted her to get moving. Somehow she felt he was doing that for more than just that reason. He was tormenting her. Emotionally.

Stop it! she scolded herself, slapping her own cheeks to get those thoughts out of her mind. Stop thinking like that! You're a Jedi! Jedi do not allow such thouyghts in their heads!

But women do, a small voice in the back of her mind reminded her. You're a woman.

That was right. She was a Jedi but she was also a woman. Lately her woman emotions were taking over her Jedi training. Especially when she was around a certain cyborg. Shaak Ti stared at his cape covered back. Emotions... emotions toward him... Positive... kind feelings... loving feeling... attraction?

A/N

She's starting to realize that she likes him. :D The next chapter will have some of what people call fluff. Can you wait? I hope you liked the chapter.