AN: I don't own Naruto or Star Wars.

Aurra pushed the swoop and her reflexes to the limit as she shot into the darkness, trying to weave her way through the hidden obstacles in the underbelly of Nar Shaddaa. As such high speeds there was no room for anything else; no thoughts, no feelings, just the movement of her and her swoop.

Cutting across an opening, she gunned upwards slightly to dodge a few swoops that soared by. She had no time for anyone else, she had no time for anything else. She didn't want to think anymore and yet…

Her mind raced back to Naruto, his words, his emotions. She'd realized already that he was young and wouldn't become a heartless Jedi just yet, but as they'd spoken just a moment ago, it occurred to her that she'd hurt him. It wasn't more than a fleeting thought, but it was there, and it resonated through her in the moment where Naruto had begun screaming at her.

She'd never wanted to hurt him. Doing so was like taking a blade to herself, and seeing him in pain – even emotional pain – was hurting her to watch. As she'd left she didn't want to look back, but she knew what Naruto's face would look like; pain, betrayal, worry…all emotions she wasn't supposed to feel.

Her choice in lifestyle was that of the cold and heartless at times. One could not show mercy to their prey, otherwise the prey they showed mercy to would rear up and break them. Anger would loosen her focus, make her wild and reckless, and it could get her killed. It didn't mean those moments weren't allowed, just that she had to tiptoe around them, ensuring that her back was constantly watched.

Those thoughts were what made her defensive about the Dark Woman though, and as that thought came to mind, she scowled. Naruto had talked about her as though she were some amazing person, that she was actually a good person. How was he so blind to miss that she was abandoning him? Her mind raced over what he'd said, trying to piece it together. None of it made sense. Except for one thing.

"…and to find you."

Why would the Dark Woman promise to help find her? After all these years, it was possible she could've been dead and left to rot by the pirates the moment they found her. Yet, she'd promised a young child and filled his mind with hopes that could one day be crushed. She'd led him on a wild chase, gone away from the training she was meant to do with him…just to find her. Why?

"Why is this bugging me so much?" She whispered into the wind. There was no answer, but then there never was at these speeds. Slowing her swoop down, she turned it sharply and stared back the way she came with a distant look. "…I can't believe I just did that."

Shaking her head, she turned towards the tower once more. In the middle of an argument, when she'd promised herself she'd listened, the moment she'd gotten upset she'd ran away. While she'd needed to clear her head, the speed had cleared out enough for her to realize that Naruto likely would hate her for leaving him like that. No one else would allow themselves to be subjected to such treatment when they'd patiently sat silently, listening to every story, each idea, and every gripe and dark thought that she'd had to tell.

As she turned though, her eyes rested on a swoop gang that raced in the other direction. Raising her brow at that, she checked her position on the map and carefully made sure she was seeing things right. True to the map, she was in a "safe" area, where none of the swoop gangs had a chance to stake a claim yet. Looking up at the gang flying around now though, it seemed that the information wasn't quite as up to date as she'd thought.

"Oh no, Naruto." Feeling a cold chill run down her spine, she gunned her engines to the limit as she shot back towards the landing station. If she were wrong here, she could've been wrong about that area as well. Which meant Naruto wasn't nearly as safe as she'd thought he'd be.

x-=-x

Naruto didn't know what to do first, and so he spent some time just pacing in front of the building with a shout of frustration. "Aurra you…and I…ugh, why are you making this so difficult?"

Gripping his head again, he felt the cool touch of his lightsaber on his leg again, calming him and keeping him from doing something stupid. With where he currently was though, he doubted there was anything stupid he could do; there was nowhere to go, and no way to get off. Finally deciding to sit down and meditate, he threw himself down with and shook his head as he tried to clear his mind.

"Deep breaths Naruto, just relax…" Naruto was still quite unpracticed at meditating normally, and it took him a while to find his inner peace so that he could feel the Force around him. The feeling of the Force here was still something strange to him, but after all he'd been through it was still the Force and it still brought a semblance of comfort to him knowing that it was there to help him.

Smiling softly, he began reaching out with the Force to try and find Aurra on the planet. In the back of his mind, he supposed that he could also do this for Xanatos later, but he wanted to do one thing at a time. Letting the Force guide him, he found his eyes opening much sooner than he thought as he heard the engines of a swoop approaching.

"Well that was fast." Naruto muttered, pushing himself to his feet. He didn't get more than two steps before he stared at the swoop with narrowed eyes. "…that's definitely not Aurra."

The person before him had a masculine build, was wearing heavy leather clothing with a symbol on it that was reflected on the swoop as well. Their helmet obscured any features on his face, but Naruto got the distinct impression that they were looking right at him. Looking between him and the swoop, Naruto flinched as he pieced together that whoever this was they were likely a gang member.

Before he could do or say anything, they raised their arm and pointed an autoblaster at him. Only the years of Jedi training gave him the split second needed to dive over the railing as a hail of autoblaster fire rained down where he'd been standing a second before.

Rolling to his feet, Naruto pushed himself back and peaked around the corner. The gang member didn't bother using the stairs, simply jumping down to ground level to meet him as he walked towards where he'd jumped. Cursing under his breath, Naruto began running around the end of the building, trying to find some way to hide so that he could think. Almost as soon as he found a group of crates, he heard the member running towards him.

Naruto yelped as he leapt over the boxes, hiding behind them as the autoblaster began peppering his cover with blaster fire. Looking out from behind them again, he flinched when he realized how close his opponent had gotten in such a short span. Gritting his teeth, he created two clones and sent them running in two separate directions while he ran towards his initial target along the back of the building.

"…interesting." The man said, pointing his auto blaster at the Naruto who'd chosen to run at him to give them time. "But not good enough."

Rather than blasting the clone, the man stepped into the clone's flying leap and pistol whipped it in the jaw. Naruto could almost feel his own jaw rattling as his clone's broke, causing it to lose shape and disappear. Looking back up to the railing, he leapt upwards and pulled himself onto the upper level. Looking over to his other clone, he winced as he saw that the man had chosen to follow it.

Once again, his clone was in a predicament, darting and trying to weave through the crates that had been left behind so long ago. Yet every time he thought he'd gotten far enough away autoblaster fire would erupt from just next to him. From his aerial position, Naruto could tell that they were trying to heard him towards a specific spot where he'd be cornered.

Biting his lip, he told the clone to jump onto the crates and take the high ground. Maybe that way, it would throw off their plan long enough to give him and his clone more time. The moment the clone leapt, the man whipped from around the corner and shot him the back of his legs, the rapid fire shredding through them with no precision or remorse as the clone yelped and fell apart to keep Naruto from having to feel the pain.

This was insane. He knew that there were people out there who could hunt Jedi, and who were able to do many things that he couldn't, but watching this man was almost terrifying. As he realized this, Naruto inwardly smacked his head. Of course he was losing to him, he'd thought he was just some gang member. This man was likely a bounty hunter, and had come to claim the rewards that was still out there for Jedi.

"How cute, you actually believe you can hide from me." The man said, his voice obscured by his mask to give it a more ominous feel that sent chills up Naruto's spine. "What a shame though, I was looking forward to seeing more of your Jedi tricks. I didn't realize I'd gotten a two-for-one deal with this hunt."

Two-for-one? Did he mean Aurra? Naruto flinched, and growled, reaching down to his pants to pull out his lightsaber. If the man already knew he was a Jedi, and he was planning on hunting him and Aurra, Naruto wouldn't allow it. He'd lost her once. He wouldn't allow it again. While it was true she'd run off just now, she'd also said she'd come back.

Waiting till the last second, he leapt over the railing back to where the man was as his lightsaber ignited with a familiar snap-hiss and tore through the air behind him as he dropped them. They seemed surprised by the aggressive action, but Naruto didn't focus on that. Knowing better than to stand alone, he formed two clones besides him to help create the same sort of illusion that he'd created on Illum, rushing forwards with all three of his clones to engage on the bounty hunter.

Whether or not the man was surprised by his aggressive actions, he didn't know. The mask hid him from view, making each reach and action almost ominous in how he moved. With each kick or punch the clones made, he had a hand or knee to block as he wove his way through the lightsabers paths. At no point did he fully retaliate, just dodging and weaving in front of him.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he tried to understand what was going on. Was he…playing with him? Trying to tire him out? He was Naruto Uzumaki, the boy with stamina to keep going forever. He wouldn't lose to this man in a stamina battle so easily.

"So she really left you alone? Typical Aurra, always running off."

The words caught Naruto off guard, and one of his clones fully stumbled, making it a prime target for the spine crushing blow to its back that caused it to dispel. While Naruto and his other clone winced, the man didn't move to engage on them again just yet.

"Did you really think she cared about you? Sitting together, talking…all lies and words mean to placate. I should know, I taught her everything she knows after all."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto's clone asked through grit teeth.

The man threw out his arms and laughed. It was a sickening laugh, like listening to a voice drenched in grease so thick it drowned out any other noise. "Isn't it obvious? Why, how do you think I found you? It was certainly a really short time between when she left and when I showed up now, wasn't it?"

"…so what? You could've followed us here and came in when she left." Naruto said resolutely. His clone however seemed to shift in place, nervously thinking what Naruto was shoving from his mind.

"I could've, but then she's able to lose anyone in a crowd, outrun anyone on a speeder, and…out duel even a Jedi." Seeing the two of them perk up at that, they could almost feel his smirk as he feigned shock. "Oh, did she not tell you? She's got a lightsaber herself now, blade as red as the setting sun, and quite a deadly sight to see. But then, I suppose she doesn't flaunt it all that much. Blaster fire and her slugthrower are more than adequate for killing Jedi."

"So what? She has a lightsaber, big deal." His clone said, trying to sound confident despite the fact that he was beginning to shake in rage.

"It's a big deal because it's a symbol of what she is." The man laughed again, pointing to both Naruto's. "She's a fallen Jedi, a woman cold as ice with death on her fingertips, who's been trained to be a personalized assassin for the Hutts. And they like nothing more than to eliminate one of their biggest competators…the Jedi. Goody two shoes who stick their noses where they don't belong. And with a lightsaber, she can go head to head with them, and she can kill them."

"You're lying!" Naruto shouted, his own form now shaking as he grit his teeth.

"Am I though?"

The clone had enough of the man's words and shouted in rage as he rushed him. The man didn't flinch, weaving through each strike before gripping the clone's neck. Naruto rushed in as well, trying to buy himself and his clone more time as he formed another clone to try and help. In doing so, the man turned to Naruto and threw the clone away.

"Found you brat."

Naruto flinched, dodging the man's sudden charge by diving to the side as he suddenly rushed him. His clone beside him wasn't so lucky, clotheslined and thrown to the ground with a sickening crunch as Naruto's head felt twinges of phantom pain. Turning on his heel again, his eyes widened when his clone suddenly shoved him to the side, barely saving him from being kicked in the chest as the man lashed out at him. Hearing the man's growl, he whipped his arm around and shot the clone repeatedly with the autoblaster, leaving no remorse or room for the clone to dodge or escape.

Scrambling to his feet, Naruto could already tell that he wasn't going to get too far if he turned and ran at the moment. Gathering the Force into his hands, he tried to create a strong Force Push to get some distance between them. As his hand launched it out, the man darted to his right and dodged the blast, bringing his hand to Naruto's throat while slamming him into the closest crate. With his free hand, he gripped Naruto's wrist till he screamed in pain, dropping his lightsaber to the ground besides him.

"Well then, you certainly brought up a few new tricks that I've not seen, but the superior man won." Taking off his helmet, the man stared into his eyes with a smirk of victory. "Funny how you thought you could get away from me. A boy, a Jedi no less, stands no chance against me."

"…what do you want?" Naruto asked through strained breaths, trying to remain focused on the man in front of him.

"I want to hurt you obviously." The man said with a shrug. Parts of his cheeks began slowly pushing up, two tendrils slowly sliding out of their hidden pouches as he continued. "I'm going to enjoy this meal quite a bit…but before I do, why don't I fill you in on what Aurra did not.

"She's not the girl you think she is. I taught her everything she knows, and we never went through anything without a live fire scenario. Her lightsaber? Ripped from the hands of a dead Jedi. Her weapons? Stolen from people who had no further use for it. Hell, even the building she took you to was something she'd earned through the blood money she'd received for killing people." Naruto chocked out a response, and he humored Naruto by letting up just a bit. "What was that? I couldn't hear you over your impending demise."

"You're…wrong." Naruto breathed out, stars in his eyes as he tried to refocus on the world around him. "She's…she's…not like that. Aurra's…"

He pushed in on Naruto's throat again, cutting him off as he shook his head. "Boy, you don't know the first thing about her. I know her. I've lived with her for the last seven years. She killed with me watching, and I've approved of it. We've destroyed more than a child like you could ever understand. And at the end of the day when the dreams of Jedi haunted her memory, she sought out my attention to comfort her." Naruto's eyes snapped to him, and the man laughed darkly. "Oh, you didn't know? Well then, I suppose you'll just continue to learn new things then won't you? Too bad though; it's all too much, too late."

Grabbing Naruto's head with his free hand, he leaned forwards and moved his tendrils towards Naruto's face. Naruto's eyes widened, grasping desperately for something, anything that could help. Feeling something digging into his hip, he grabbed it and pulled it out. Rearing back, he slammed it into the man's shoulder, getting a startled shout from him as he pulled back and dropped him.

"You little – you're dead!" The man shouted, pulling the rancor's tooth from his shoulder as he backhanded Naruto.

The backhand was far stronger than that of any normal being Naruto had come across sans the Wookiees, and as such he found himself seeing stars as he tried in vain to get up from the blow. Before he could though, he was grabbed and slammed into the wall once more. This time though, the tendrils were pressed against his nose and he twitched when he felt them squirming up into his head.

As he felt the push through something in the back of his head, Naruto's mind flashed through a variety of options. There was nothing he could think of in his Jedi training that would help him here, nothing that could stop this being, this…monster. Nothing…except maybe…

Naruto didn't know how his Shadow had done it back on Illum, but he remembered the feeling his clones had upon being struck by the lightning the Shadow had shocked them with. He recalled the emotions, the tension, and the power of it. He had no idea what else he could do, and even if it failed he could at least say he tried.

Finding the emotions he needed wasn't that hard. In this situation, fear, pain, and anger were almost as close to the forefront of his mind as breathing. From there, he had nothing more to do then to call on the Force and pray that he'd do it right. With a small gasp as the tendrils began to 'drink', he screamed and forced every bit of the Force from his body.

The result was not what he expected. There was no lightning that came from his hands in the controlled, stable manner that had happened before. Instead, his entire body arched with lightning, pushed out from his toes to his head, going down the tendrils into the man before him as well. He could feel the startled confusion of the man and pushed on, taking the pain of what he was doing and threw that in the fuel for what he was doing.

Slowly losing consciousness, he grit his teeth before bellowing one last time as he shoved all of his emotions into the lighting and let it burst from his body. In that moment, he was enveloped in the dark side, and he became the uncontrollable power of lightning itself.

x-=-x

The lightshow didn't go unseen. Many beings saw the flashes of light down in the Undercity, where darkness reigned and no one dared to go down, and all quickly turned their heads away. Such a sight meant that there was something going on that they need not concern themselves with. It would only bring danger, and pain to those who thought they could do anything down there.

One individual though, was not like that. Then again, Aurra had been going in that direction as it was, and seeing the flash of light only made her wish her swoop were capable of moving faster so that she could get to Naruto and find out what happened. She was no fool; the light had come from the platform where she'd left him, and as she approached she felt a dark feeling in the pit of her stomach.

What had she done? She'd left him here, alone with no help, and now…something had happened. She didn't know what, but something had most definitely happened. It took all the years of practice to slow the swoop and make sure that it was left parked instead of flipping herself off to run over to him. Off to the side, she saw a gang member's swoop and grit her teeth, pulling out a blaster pistol as she moved towards the building.

"Naruto?" She said softly, trying to see where he was at. Her blaster whipped from side to side, eyes darting through each room as she tried to figure out what had happened.

Hearing movement behind her, she whipped around and blasted at whatever it was. It took a second to realize she'd almost shot a cleaning droid, who was now going back into the room it had been in to avoid being shot at again.

"…stupid droid." She muttered, remembering telling Naruto that they'd power on once she restarted the power. Turning back to the main room, she looked around for him, only to see nothing. No signs of struggle or anything to indicated that he'd been here. "Where did you go Naruto?"

Turning to leave the building, she heard a sound from the window. Glancing back to it, she slowly moved towards it and sidled up beside it. Glancing out the window, she tried to see what was out there making the noise. Upon hearing it again, she glanced down and grit her teeth when she saw the gang member strewn out against one of the crates.

Rushing out the door, she vaulted down to ground level and stormed over to where the man was sitting. Her trigger finger itched to put a blaster bolt between his eyes, and she could feel the Force around her like a dark maelstrom that she had long since chosen to ignore. Stepping up to him, she froze when she realized that, while alive, the man was also arching with electricity. Kneeling in front of him, she balked and fell back upon seeing the face of Torgo, staring blankly as he twitched slightly.

"What the hell…Torgo what…"

The sound of something gasping from the wall behind her caught her attention. Her head turned to the sound, all but shoving herself toward it as she saw Naruto twitching and shaking on the ground. His body was arching with the same electric energy that Torgo was, but his was more intense. His eyes were distant, already having lost focus on the world around him, but held open through the pain of what was happening.

She gripped his head and helped keep him from injuring himself further, watching him twitch and shuddered at the sight as she struggled to simply hold onto him. There were twinges of pain when the energy struck her hands, but she ignored it as she softly whispered to Naruto, trying to help whatever it was that was happening to him calm down.

Still feeling the maelstrom of Force energy, she bit her lip and let it flow through her. To her surprise, the energy she'd sworn was her own only a moment before was not her own; it was Naruto's. Reaching into the area of darkness that had been left behind, she found that there were many emotions left behind that she could sense. Upon touching them with the Force though, they began reacting to her presence.

The lightning that arched around him began to slow down as she let her presence in the Force wash over him. Safe. He was safe. There was nothing to fear now. She would watch over him. It took almost a full three minutes before he stopped twitching and his eyes closed. Watching as he slept in her arms, she leaned down and pressed her head to his.

"…what the hell did you do Naruto?" She whispered softly.

"He…shocked me…"

Aurra's head didn't snap to his voice. It didn't so much as move when he awoke from whatever had happened to him. Anzati were known for being resilient, but then even they had their limits like any being. Glancing to Torgo, she move from her spot as she waited for him to continue.

Torgo watched her, barely able to comprehend anything after the full blast of lighting through his body. "That boy…he's a Jedi. And…for a moment, when I tasted his soup, I swore it was the sweetest soup I'd ever tasted. It's stronger than I thought, since he's so weak in comparison. Such a small boy…how can such a small speck carry such a large burden?"

Aurra slowly rose into a full sitting position, turning to Torgo. "What are you talking about?"

"The boy…he's tainted with power." Torgo's eyes closed, a pained laugh slipping past his lips. "Had I not tasted it myself, I wouldn't have realized…and had I not tasted it I wouldn't have seen it…"

"What are you talking about Torgo?" She hissed, slowly pushing herself to her feet. "What did you see?"

Torgo looked up at her as best he could, no fear in his eyes as he spoke. "The monster he truly hides. The beast…no, the beasts inside him, that no amount of Jedi training would ever save him from. He is weak, frail, and will be crushed beneath them. No one can save him from his burden…and that will be how he dies."

Aurra scowled at him, gripping her hands tightly. "Says who? No one can tell him what will happen to him, and he won't let someone choose how his life ends."

"I didn't chose it…" Torgo muttered, his eyes distant as he struggled to see something. "You…are so pretty. Why do you chose to wear such a retched expression?"

She remained silent, staring at Torgo with a hollow, blank stare. Slowly reaching behind her, she pulled something out and let it hang in her hand next to her. Torgo's eyes slowly fell to it, a hollow smile on his face that twitched from the lightning that persisted within his body.

"So, you've come to finish your hunt then?" He sighed, closing his eyes. "I should've known you were hunting me. It was so easy to follow you…so simple to separate you from the boy…I shouldn't have gotten careless."

"I'd never hunt you Torgo. You aren't worth it to hunt for nothing." She said darkly. "There's no time I'd spend wasted on doing something as trivial as that. No…"

Snap-hiss.

"I'm here to be your executioner."

Torgo didn't bother reopening his eyes when she said that. He'd seen the lightsaber already, and with his body all but useless now, he silently accepted his fate. There were worse ways to go than to be killed by Aurra he mused. Then again, with what he'd been able to see for a second, he'd silently wished he could stay around just a bit longer to see it happen.

No more thoughts ran through his mind as Aurra swung her lightsaber and took off his head. She watched it fly off but paid it no mind as she stepped back. He was gone. The man who was her teacher, her guide, and yet had been one of the greatest thorns in her side…was gone.

The thought was sobering, and she slowly returned her lightsaber to its position beneath the pouch she wore on the back of her belt. Making sure it was well hidden from view, she turned to Naruto once more.

Seeing his lightsaber, she walked over and picked it up. The casing of it was exactly like he'd said; of Naboo make with the artistic and fanciful designs they were known for. Surprisingly, the lightsaber was also cool to the touch, making her feel calm, and focused. Shaking her head, she placed it back in her pouch as she turned and picked up Naruto.

He felt so small in her arms. Normally he stood tall and he seemed like a giant in comparison to the world around him. But here, after seeing him so weak, and unconscious, she was made aware of how small he was compared to the world around him.

And yet, in that same moment, her eyes fell on the damage that had been done to the area around them. There was nothing that screamed that he'd destroyed everything in front of him, but there was damage that told her he'd unleashed a lot of power upon this poor rooftop. There were marks of singed, damaged crates that surrounded the two of them. Looking back down to Naruto, she realized that she'd missed a few cracks on his face where he was now bleeding, and several parts of his shirt that were burnt through and had left electric burns on his arms and lower chest.

"Naruto…what…just what happened to you?" She whispered, holding him tight as she moved towards her swoop to take him home once more. In the silence of the Undercity, not even the Force seemed to be willing to answer her question.

AN: ...well then, that happened. It's also part of something I mentioned slightly in the last chapter that will be elaborated on a bit more in the temple before Naruto goes to the Elemental nations. Just to give you all a little something to fuel the curiosity about what just happened…Naruto Manga Chapter 91: Disciple Application! has a part of what I'm going to talk about.

That being said, I'm not telling you which page I'm referring to either, so we'll have to wait and see.

As for why that went so fast, Torgo wasn't going to let Naruto live and was only playing around because it suited him for a moment. In the end, he wasn't going to play with his food for long, and with no one to help protect him, Naruto didn't have the chance to move fast enough. Then again, Torgo didn't expect his 'prey' to have a defense mechanism either.

In the meantime though, next chapter is going to involve an old friend, so I'll see you all in the next chapter of From Darkness!