Welcome to yet another chapter!

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Chapter 14: It Takes Two to Love

Part II of X

To Protect a Senator Arc

A Week Later….

Naruto groaned as he and his two most trusted comrades entered the elevator. Ino of course was next to him, Anakin was a given and Itachi stood at the far back of the elevator. Surrounding the apartment, there was small infantry support craft and sentry bots of the Red Clouds standing guard over the building. Red Cloud shinobi sat crouched on the roof of the building with their weapons drawn, but were hidden in the dark of night. He had the entire defense planned out in tandem with Captain Typho.

For some strange reason, the blond decided to come at night. Ino was clearly annoyed by this as was Anakin. The two gladly voiced their discomfort. Anakin clearly wanted to get some sleep and Ino was intending to get some extra training in before hitting the sack. Itachi was his ever stoic self, not caring in the slightest about the change of plans for their arrival. Naruto fritted with his robes, trying to look presentable.

"You look nervous, Naruto." Anakin tried not to laugh. "Scared that Padmé will think otherwise of you?"

"Can you shut up, Ani?" Naruto growled. "I don't need your comments right now."

The damned transmission shut off before we could even see each other. Naruto took a deep breath. All I heard was her voice. Her angelic- no. Stop that shit.

Ino was giving her lover a look that spoke of jealousy. The blonde huffed and crossed her arms beneath her chest. Ino watched the way the blond had reacted when he heard the girl's voice. That damned girl had to just come into his life after ten years of absence. Ino narrowed her eyes; what gave the bitch the right? Ino sighed and leaned her back against the glass walls as the elevator ascended. Ino was curious though. She was actually dying to know what the brunette looked like.

It seemed that the elevator couldn't rise fast enough. If this girl Padmé was good enough to have Naruto scream out her name instead of Ino's, the blonde felt that this Padmé must be an extremely gorgeous girl. She ran a hand through her blonde hair and took a deep breath. The tension between her and Naruto was tight and heavy, but neither Anakin nor Itachi could sense it. It was that, or both of them were trying to ignore it.

Suddenly, the elevator came to a slow halt. All heads perked up and the four Jedi stood at attention, their hands behind their backs, clasping their fingers within their sleeves. The elevator shuddered and the doors opened to reveal an empty room. Naruto and the three were suddenly motioned into the room by a droid and a few servants.

From the far side of the room, a hiss was heard and footsteps and conversation could be heard coming closer. One of them was the annoying voice of Jar-Jar and the other was a young woman. Her voice was strong, powerful and spoke of authority, but still angelic and sounded like a soft lullaby. Naruto felt his legs lose their balance and their strength. Sweat began to form on his forehead.

"You haven't been this nervous since we fell into that pit full of Gundarks." Anakin smirked from behind, clearly enjoying this. "Be calm, little brother. I hear politicians have claws and massive jaws-"

"Can you shut the hell up, Ani?" Naruto said with an exasperated tone. "I'm finding it really hard to stand right now."

"-And that is where I stand…" Padmé walked into the room followed by an entourage of delegates and other senators.

Naruto's sapphire blue eyes widened with surprise. Padmé stood somewhat taller with longer brown hair, falling into a mess of curls reaching down to her shoulders. She wore a beautiful dress with long black sleeves. Her chocolate brown eyes bored holes into his forehead, clearly surprised by the blond man that stood in front of her. Naruto felt his heart skip a beat when Padmé gave him a real smile; the small dimple on her right cheek deepening.

"N-Naruto…?" Padmé asked, completely surprised. "Y-You've grown…so…tall!"

"I'd prefer manlier, but tall is a great-"

Padmé interrupted him as she rammed him with a powerful hug. Naruto lost balance and nearly fell to the floor below, but thanks to Itachi, the blond was held up and embraced Padmé with the same amount of emotion. Padmé laughed and soon enough, Naruto burst into laughter and quickly picked her up, spinning her around for good measure.

Ino glared and turned away, obviously offended and walked away towards the window sill. Itachi walked off towards one of the guard posts and conversed with the Naboo guardsmen. Ani stayed behind and was quickly embraced by Padmé as well. The three of them were led to a seat and they conversed about many things, namely how they had both grown so tall and handsome. Ani though, could tell that Padmé was struggling to keep her eyes off of his blond brother.

Oh fuck! What do Jedi feed their students?! Padmé thought with a blush. Naruto looks so damn different! I can't wait till we get some alone time. I have a surprise for him.

Padmé really couldn't wait. She smiled inwardly at his surprise at what she can do. For the last ten years, being a politician wasn't all she was doing with her life.

Thanks to that one fateful day that her chakra coils were unlocked, Padmé had been practicing her abilities thanks to a private tutor and a Red Clouds instructor. She could barely hold it in. Naruto was completely oblivious to her powers. If anything, all Naruto could see at this point were her face and how much she'd changed appearance-wise. The girl smirked and leaned back into her chair while Anakin talked about his little story of one of their battles against the Sith.

Padmé listened with utmost attention, laughing with them and jumping in surprise at the appropriate parts. Behind her though, Ino stood with a glare. Ino crossed her arms under her chest and took a deep breath. The blonde pulled a seat over to her through the force and plopped down onto it with a small frown. The longer Padmé held that stupid smile on her face, the angrier Ino felt she was getting. The girl scoffed when Padmé asked question concerning one of their adventures.

Suddenly, Naruto rose from his seat while Padmé and Anakin shared a drink. The blond motioned for Ino to follow him out onto the balcony. She had a good feeling what he was about to say or do. She wasn't going to enjoy his little talk. Ino leaned against the railing with a smug look on her face. She rolled her eyes as Naruto finally appeared. He walked onto the balcony with a glare on his face, but he looked at her with determination. Ino raised an eyebrow at him, but his hands shot up to her cheeks and pulled her close. He crashed his lips onto hers, removing the smug look on her face, replacing it with one of complete surprise.

"What the hell was that about, Naruto-kun?" Ino asked with a small tint of red on her cheeks. "Don't tell me that you're finally changing your mind. After all the times that I've ridden your dick-"

"Alright." Naruto sighed, clearly having a debate with himself. "Do you want me to say it, Ino? I mean, I've been thinking about it recently…"

"What are you-" She was interrupted when Naruto crashed his lips onto hers.

"Do you want me to?" Naruto glared. "Yes or no?"

"I-" Once again, she was silenced by the blond.

"Yes…" Ino said with a blush. Her frown deepened.

"Then I will." He leaned in, his lips brushing against her ear. "I love you, Ino. For ten years we've fought along-side each other and for ten years we'd grown close. I love you, Ino."

"Good." Ino wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, leaning her lips against his ear. "Does this mean that you won't be a stupid stick in the mud?"

"No." Naruto laughed. "Rules are rules, Ino."

"You prude." Ino groaned. "Go, see your childhood crush. I'm pretty sure that she missed you."

"Now, now, don't be like that." Naruto sighed.

"Go." Ino waved the boy off. "I'll be seeing you later tonight."

The boy walked away with the wobble in his legs completely gone. Naruto smirked and collapsed on the couch with his brother and the drunken Padmé. Naruto gave Anakin a disapproving look and formed two teams of shadow clones and ordered them to carry Padmé to her room and had the other lay Anakin out on one of the guest room beds. Itachi was on the roof somewhere with the other Red Clouds watching the city around them.

Naruto now sat on the couch with a blanket covering his naked form and Ino's naked and curvaceous body. Her head leaned in on his scarred chest with a small smile on her face. Ino's sky blue eyes looked left and right through the darkness of the room. Thankfully the shinobi of the Red Clouds were trustworthy enough to turn their heads. Ino had a question though that was starting to bother her beyond belief.

"What's with the sudden change of heart, Naruto-kun?" Ino asked with a frown. "I mean, a week ago, none of those things mattered to you…"

"The change of heart you ask?" Naruto replied with an uncomfortable shift under the blanket. "I mean, those things did matter to me, the love, the passion. That's the only reason why I even allowed our forbidden relationship going. It's the only reason why my lust turned to genuine attraction."

"What about Padmé?" Ino asked. The name coming out with more mirth than she'd intended.

"What about her?" Naruto asked, his heart starting to beat heavier.

"Don't lie to me, Uzumaki." Ino growled. "Remember who I am. I am still one of the best lie detecting shinobi in the galaxy."

"Ok." Naruto sighed. "There's still a little bit of something for her, but Ino, believe me…you're the only one right now. I mean, there's practically nothing about Padmé I remember, other than the fact that we spent a very great amount of time together when I was fourteen, but other than that, nothing. I don't even know her favorite color or her favorite food. I know almost nothing personal about her and that makes my love for her completely superficial."

"You on the other hand…" Naruto let out a little exasperated sigh. "There's so much I can say about you, Ino-chan."

"You make it sound like a damned bad thing, asshole!" Ino laughed.

"Well, it depends on who wants to know." Naruto smirked. "Hey…"

"I sense it too!"

The two rushed from the blanket and pulled the blond pulled his clothes to his body while Ino used chakra strings and wrapped her clothes around her. Ino rushed forward and pushed the door open with the force and went for a heavy leap towards Padmé's bed, slicing the ever poisonous worms that were seen crawling all over her bed and body. Naruto turned to the window and could easily see the little droid that dropped the worms into the room.

"Ani! Get a car!" Naruto roared with a booming voice. In the other room you can hear Ani replying with an affirmative. "I'm going after this one!"

Naruto rushed towards the window and smashed through the glass, wrapping his hands around the sides of the droid. He channeled his chakra and soon enough, a hiraishin seal was slapped onto the droid. The boy took a deep breath sensing Anakin's presence nearby. Time to let go. Naruto let loose as the droid sped off into the night of Coruscant. He went into a free fall state and landed perfectly in the seat next to Anakin.

Behind him, two Red Clouds craft rushed ahead, following the tracking seal that Naruto had slapped on as well. The blond had a feeling that the droid would be retreating back to its owner. Soon enough, he sensed that the seals were close. He gave his brother a look and with a flash of light, Naruto appeared on a balcony hidden by the billboards glowing with a glaring intensity. There was a woman standing there with a dark look on her face and blood stains on her speeder.

Around her, there were corpses of some younger, less experienced Red Cloud members. Naruto rushed forward with a punch. The woman dodged at the right moment, and sent her own punch. The boy was too fast for her slow punch though and managed to ram his knee into the girl's face, knocking her into her open speeder. The boy drew out his kunai ready to make quick work of her. Little did he know the woman shot back up with a blaster pistol, shooting the knife from his hands and even landing a couple of shots on his left arm.

The man roared out in pain, but rushed forward, smashing the sole of his right foot onto her head, bringing her down onto the speeder once more, using her face to smash the glass open. The woman though, just wasn't going to give up. She sped forward, drawing a combat knife from her sleeve, swinging with a terrifying accuracy. Naruto even felt a few hairs get sliced from his golden head. The blond jumped back, weaving in between each knife strike and each lunge. This woman was skilled, he was going to give her that much at least.

She saw that he'd ducked and kicked his knee out from under him, bringing the man to his knees. She swung for him once his head was in an appropriate range. Naruto though, ducked under her arm and grabbed her by the elbow and hurled her over him, bringing her face first into the concrete outcropping. She groaned out in pain, but with amazing flexibility, she slithered around, coming back to her feet, bouncing on the balls of her heels.

Naruto took up a fighting stance and glared at the woman. She wasn't going to be divulging anything anytime soon. The boy growled and rushed forward, drawing a kunai from his sleeve and wrapping his fingers around the handle perfectly. The woman smirked and clashed her knife with his, making sparks fly from their quick contact. She slashed forward, making a small scratch on his face, cutting right through his whisker marks, almost making his whisker marks look like a mess.

The man shot over, his hand rushing to his face. The blood flowed in between his fingers, rushing down to his robes. The boy rushed ahead and kicked for the woman's face, but she blocked with her iron-hard forearm. She didn't see his right fist coming in at lightning speeds. He slashed through her cheek, cutting through her left eye. Blood rushed from the attack, breaking her stance. She growled, the blood pouring down her face. She removed her hand through revealing something else.

The creature shot forward, smashing its fist into his face, knocking him into the building behind them. Naruto struggled against the sudden strength. The being lifted him and hurled him into the speeder, showering glass in all directions. Naruto was surprised at what had happened and got ready to chase after the being, realizing that he hadn't placed a hiraishin marker on it. The door though, shot down onto his forearm, locking him in place. The being walked over to the ledge of the outcropping and looked back at the blond with a sickening smirk as its face started morphing back into the woman that he fought against.

She jumped off the outcropping and after a few screams, Naruto came to realize that the bounty hunter had probably hijacked someone's speeder and took off through the night. Suddenly, a great feeling took over his body. He could sense a hiraishin seal coming close. Then that voice echoed in his ears and Naruto sighed in relief. He looked down to see Ino waving his hiraishin kunai at him like he was some puppy. She kept waving the damned knife like she was tempting a little baby. Soon enough, Naruto wrenched the kunai from her grasp, nearly scaring her from her seat.

"Well the bounty hunter-"

"Hang on!" Ino roared with a massive smile growing across her face.

The craft shot forward, forcing Naruto into his seat. The man struggled to hold up against the amazing pressure being put upon him. He tried to fight back against the winds, but Ino wasn't going to let that happen. She drove forward, and swerved into oncoming traffic, weaving and even doing tricks in mid-air, dodging people left and right. Naruto was holding on for dear life, scared beyond belief. Ino though, seemed to be having the time of her life.

Ino perked up and looked in the general direction of where the two sensed where the signature was coming from. This woman was weak with the force but had a sizeable amount of chakra, despite having shitty chakra coils. Ino pulled over and came to a pointless stop in the center of the largest intersection in Coruscant. The two blonds looked at one another, not a word was said. They both looked around, confused and afraid. The woman disappeared that quickly and was able to hide her chakra signature and force signature that well. Ino gave Naruto a look and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. She leaned over to the other side of the speeder and pulled out her katana.

"I'll see you down there." Ino laughed.

She jumped off the speeder with a look of excitement drawn across her face. She spun in mid-air and shot down for the green speeder zooming beneath them. Ino spun back around and landed perfectly in the empty seat behind the woman and punched the woman at the base of her neck, forcing her face into the steering wheel. Ino was elbowed in the face by the woman, but Ino quickly shot forward and took the seat next to the woman with a kunai drawn.

The woman didn't care and smashed her elbow in Ino's face once again ready to take her down. Ino though, dug the kunai into the woman's arm. The woman roared with a great bellowing bass. Ino suddenly found her face closing in to the glove compartment of the passenger seat. Ino struggled against the woman's newfound strength. Ino though, shot around with a punch, knocking the woman's head back into her seat. When the blonde pulled her hand back, it came to reveal a fist covered in blood. The woman looked back up to reveal a face wrought with anger.

Ino was grabbed by her pony-tail and thrown from the seat of the speeder. In a free-fall state, the girl didn't know what to do. Suddenly an idea came to mind. She channeled her chakra together at her finger tips and hurled her arms up, sending a flurry of chakra strings up towards the speeder. Ino smirked when they all caught onto the underbelly of the hunter's speeder. The girl pulled on the strings and soon enough, managed to get a good lock on her. Ino reached into her pouch and using her teeth and a few flexible fingers, Ino tied shinobi wire to her kunai and hurled the weapon, digging the blade into the backside of the speeder.

Ino pulled on the kunai and found that it was stuck where it was and began to pull herself towards the speeder with all of her strength. The blonde looked like a psychopath to many of the people of Coruscant as they raced onward. Red Cloud ships and fighters had appeared on the scene, blasting their spotlights on the hunter. The woman though, took control of her speeder and rushed down towards the ground level with Ino straggling behind, finding it real hard to hold on to a speeder going near two hundred miles per hour.

The girl used the force and pulled the craft towards her, bringing her feet to crash perfectly on the shattered glass of the rear. Ino pulled hard on the wire and kept her stance on the craft. The hunter turned around and pulled hard to the right, sending the craft in a wild spiral, nearly sending Ino off in the same way, but the girl kept her grip on the craft. Ino wasn't about to fail Naruto yet. Soon enough, the ground level started coming close and real fast too.

"Fuck it!" Ino released her grip on the ninja wire and let her cloak float behind her, keeping her steady. Ino watched as the speeder crashed into the ground below. From the fire though, Ino could easily see the bounty hunter fleeing into the crowd. Ino smirked, but was suddenly blown away by the wind getting shot off from a speeder shooting right next to her. It turned around to reveal the smirking face of Naruto. He jumped over the side of the speeder and disappeared into the crowd as well, leaving Ino on top of one of the buildings.

Suddenly though, she saw a figure running along the edge of one of the buildings. She narrowed her eyes and sped forward, leaving the rest of the Red Clouds to cut off and secure the area for search of the attacker. Everywhere, there were small teams of shinobi running about, shrouded under the cover of darkness. Ino could see them everywhere and moved along with them, trying to keep up with the unknown man running about.

She followed him to an alleyway and found Ani and Naruto crouching over the bounty hunter. She was defeated and the three of them knew it. Something wasn't right though. The person she was following had disappeared into the shadows. Suddenly, a powerful pop followed by the ignition of a jetpack said it all for the girl. She followed the trail of light and smoke to a figure of what seemed to be Mandalorian armor. Ino growled and dropped down next to the two Jedi while sheathing her katana. The blonde ran a hand through her hair and crouched next to them.

"So…what happens now?" Ino gasped, wiping sweat from her forehead.

"This thing…" Naruto sighed. "This thing was filled with poison. I don't know where it came from."

"I think Master Obi-wan will have a good idea of where to start." Ani replied. "We'll have to be quick about this, alright? Master Obi-wan and I will get to the bottom of this."

"Two master?" Ino asked with a raised eyebrow. "Seems a bit like overkill…"

"Doesn't matter." Naruto took a deep breath. "Another war is brewing you guys. I can feel it in my bones."

"We have to stop it, no matter what."

Yo, wassup again! Please Drop a review on this chapter and the previous or any chapter lol

Ja ne!

gottahavekyuubi