AN: To excuse the lateness of the last chapter, here's an extra-long one! :D
Warnings: Some OOCness, pirates (if the title wasn't enough of a warning)
Some time later, after Todo2 had discovered what a mess the ship was, yelled at Bane about it for ten minutes, gotten kicked into an overflowing trashcan and then been wiped off with a wet-rag, ever so gently, by Obi-Wan; the little droid had taken the broom, the apron and the frilly pink bonnet from the former Jedi masters hands, and gotten to work on cleaning the ship.
Kenobi himself had been ushered into a small, cramped room that Bane insisted was not a guest room, containing a tip-up single bed, a drawer and, amazingly enough, not a single piece of trash.
Smiling, the human started unpacking his things, feeling far too relieved about not being forced to live in some home-made dump to bother being sad about the items he'd brought along with him that had broken during the ride through the atmosphere.
After he was finished, he walked out of the room and back into the driver's shuttle, where he saw that Todo2 had already managed to clean up most of the trash on the floor, and was now standing balancing on the back of a chair, desperately trying to reach for the underwear hanging in the ceiling.
Bane, meanwhile, was sitting by the controls, gazing out into the dark abyss of space before him.
Walking up to him, Obi pulled the underwear down from the ceiling in passing, earning himself a small, breathless "thank you" from the droid, and went to stand behind the duros.
"Ye're being too meek with him, Kenobi. If ya continue like this, ye'll have an enamored droid clinging to yer ass before not too long."
"What's this, Bane? Afraid that I'll steal him from you?" He smiled, making the duros snort and turn around, amusement shining through his red eyes.
"Ye're welcome to try. I'll have my laser pistol up yer throat faster than you'll be able to say Wookie."
"My, my, quite a romantic aren't we? I didn't know that you'd be so protective of your lady!"
The duros frowned, and a wave of nostalgia washed through Obi-Wan as something dangerous and threatening passed between them, making the air tense and hard to breathe.
Suddenly, he found himself wishing for his lightsaber, that was laying hidden underneath his mattress.
"I'm just protecting what is mine." Bane said and turned back around, breaking the tense moment. "That's all."
Feeling slightly awkward, Obi-Wan put his hands on the back of the seat, looked out into the darkness of space and tried to figure out something to say.
Coming out short, he decided on the most obvious choice, the question he'd intended to ask from the beginning.
"Where are we going anyway?"
"Florrum. It's going to take us a couple of days though, so I suggest that you settle down and keep yer cool for a while."
"Florrum? To the weequay pirates?" He repeated, warning signals flaring all throughout his body.
"I've got some friends on that planet that are very influential. If they don't know where to find yer ladies, no one will." The duros turned back around and raised a critical, non-existing eyebrow. "Is this a problem?"
"Hondo Ohnaka. He might recognize me."
Bane just smiled.
"Don't worry about him. As long as I'm around, he won't touch a hair on yer pretty pink face."
"You think I'm pretty?" The words were out of his mouth before he'd been able to stop them.
Looking at Bane's incredulous face, he flushed, and instantly regretted them.
What was with him today?!
He backed up a few steps, and watched as the duros facial features contorted from utter bewilderment, to a gleeful, predatory grin that stretched itself all over his face.
"That…" he stuttered, trying to salvage the situation. "That came out wro-"
"That's right, Kenobi! I think yer the prettiest lil' maiden in all the Universe!"
Then the jerk tossed his head back and laughed; a mean, loud, throaty sound that made the blush on Obi-Wan's cheeks deepen and a strange hurt twist in his stomach.
"Very mature…" he sighed, trying his hardest not to pout. "If you'll excuse me, I'll be in my room."
He spent the rest of the day cooped up in there, trying to busy himself with reading one of the books he'd brought for the journey. No one bothered to disturb him, for which he was grateful in the beginning but, after a couple of hours, found desperately boring.
After a while, he ended up staring out of the window into space until nature called, and he was forced out despite himself.
As he entered the shuttle, he was amazed to find that it was clean from all trash, that the floors had been wiped and that the windows were so clean that they were almost sparkling! For being a techno-service droid, Todo2 really knew how to clean!
Now, he was nowhere in sight though, and neither was Bane.
Full bladder temporarily forgotten, Obi frowned and took a walk through the room, searching the place with his eyes and silently noting that, with the trash cleaned up and the stench being a thing of history, it could almost be described as cozy. Sure it was dark and cramped and old; but there were pictures on the walls (mainly old-time wanted posters, some of them crossed over as Bane most likely had collected their ransom, others featuring the duros himself), a rug on the floor and a light that shone dull, but warm.
It was a very different experience from the ships that Obi-Wan had gotten used to during his Jedi days; the massive, airy, cold warships, designed to carry armies of thousands across the expanse of the universe.
Compared to that… this felt a lot more habitable.
Almost like a real home.
The thought made him chuckle.
What a strange day this was!
In fact, he was so amused that he almost didn't notice the two figures by the controls.
When he did though, he stopped short, his smile slipped, and he stared.
Bane was half-sitting, half-laying in his chair, feet propped up on the control table, his hat hooding his closed eyes. As he bent down, the Jedi master noted that the duros mouth was opened and that he was drooling slightly.
Sleeping, he looked more at peace than Obi-Wan had ever seen him.
What had really made him stop and stare though, was the fact that Todo2 was laying with him, huddled into himself like a cat on top of Bane's chest, eyes glasslike and empty in what had to be his power-save mode.
After the initial chock had settled itself, Obi found himself smiling again.
"A married couple indeed…" he whispered, and made it for what he figured had to be the bathroom, the door that was just next to his own.
What met him on the other side of it though, was the sight of a huge, heavenly soft-looking double bed, lined by a couple of bedside tables. There was a wardrobe in here as well; a heavy, massive thing that would probably reduce him to a pile of soft, bloody mush if it were to fall on top of him. He spent a minute contemplating why it didn't fall during the take-off, until he remembered that all heavy furniture were magnetized to the floor in these kind of spacecraft's, and felt a little silly.
Looking around, he smiled when he saw the hat rack standing in the corner, practically overflowing with cowboy-themed hats in all colors and sizes (though most of them were grey and oversized to the point of being silly) and almost laughed out loud at the sight of a particularly nasty one; colored bright pink and adorned with an awful, fluffy ribbon.
The walls in here were covered with wanted posters as well, the only difference being that almost all of these were crossed over.
Feeling curious, Obi-Wan closed the door gently, trying not to wake the duros or the droid up from their sleep, and walked up to one of the crossed over posters.
Noscho Kairam.
A famous, female, Miralilian thief, specialized in large cargo ships and military vessels.
15 000 credits.
He looked to the one next to her.
This one was also crossed over.
Nosswe Tai.
A male Rodian mass murderer that terrorized the cities of Rehtom for almost ten years.
9 000 credits.
He looked at another one, also crossed over.
Maran Noscit.
A female Mandalorian, and a Jedi.
20 000 credits.
Suddenly feeling slightly sick, he turned away from the wall and started walking out of the room.
Staying in there had been a bad idea, if Bane found him he might consider it a huge breach of trust (something they hardly shared a lot of to begin with), and he did not want to get onto the duros bad side when his life rested so entirely in his hands.
Also, he really needed to use the bathroom!
Suddenly though, something caught his eyes, and once again he found himself drifting from his original target.
It was laying underneath the pillow, something small and metallic and shiny; really, it was amazing that he'd seen it at all, but there it was and now… he'd never seen anything like it!
Filled with a sudden sense of wonder, he picked it up from where it was hidden and held it up to the light.
It looked and felt like some kind of strange gun; only very, very old, and heavy, and so cold in his hands, it made a shiver run down his spine.
Obi-Wan had handled a lot of weapons during the years; lightsabers, blaster pistols, electrostaffs – even a wip once! But he'd never before, not even once, held something that had felt so ominous, so evil.
It made a strange feeling of curiosity overtake him, almost enough so that he didn't notice the door opening, and just enough to make him not care.
"What's this?" He wondered aloud, as if in a trance.
"None of your business, Kenobi." Then the gun was forced out of his hands, and he was being pushed out of the room.
"I've never seen anything like it before! Where did you get it? Dear god you stole it didn't you? It looked almost ancient, you probably took it from a museum!" Obi insisted, feeling strangely giddy inside until he was sent stumbling out the doorway with a violent push.
After he'd regained his footing, he looked up and froze, seeing that cold, murderous look that he'd only seen once before in the duros fierce red eyes, that time long ago when he'd realized that Rico Hardine really was and always had been Obi-Wan Kenobi, and that he'd been set up.
The sight made something twist uncomfortably in his stomach.
"Bane? What's the-? Ehm… Oh!" he bowed down deep, feeling, not for the first (nor the last) time, like a complete idiot. "I'm sorry for the intrusion of your room! It won't happen again! I was looking for the bathroom, and then…!"
The door was slammed inches away from his face.
Obi-Wan frowned.
"What's his problem…?"
They came within holographic-distance to the Weeqay pirates the following morning, and held an appointment with their leader almost immediately after contact.
Briefly put, it went something like this:
"Ah! My dearest Cad, I'm so happy to see you my old friend!"
"Clam it Hondo, we're not here for any sunny reunions. I need some intel!"
"My darling, you wound me! It's been so long and yet all I hear from you is business, business, business! Say one word and I will have my men prepare a feast in your honor!"
"You'd probably sell me to the Republic the second I put a foot on yer planet."
"My love, my heart is breaking! Have you such little regard for me?"
Bane grinned.
"Well it wouldn't be my ass that'd be soar the next morning."
Obi-Wan coughed.
Loudly.
Hondo only grinned back.
"You keep telling yourself that, Bane. Now! Who's that I hear hacking his lungs out in the background! It has a familiar ring to it, I believe…"
The jedi and the bounty hunter shared a look, and then Obi stepped up to stand behind him.
"Kenobi!" The pirate gasped, looking as if he'd seen a ghost. Then, his entire face lit up in a huge, brilliant smile. "Well if it isn't my old friend Obi-Wan Kenobi! You must excuse me, these fools told me you were dead, killed in the order 66, although we should have known! We should have known that no ordinary clones could kill the amazing jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi!"
He laughed, and Obi-Wan gave him a hesitant smile.
"Actually, it's Ben now…"
"Obi, Ben, it does not matter! You are a friend of the Weeqay pirates, and I will do all in my power to help you, in whatever quest you may have! Well? Tell me! What is your goal? Why are you here?"
"Look ya' old slimeball, don't think I don't see what ye're trying to pull here-"
"We're looking for information!" Obi-Wan interrupted hastily, earning himself, and ignoring, a death glare from the duros. "Any and all information you may have about Assaj Ventress and Ahsoka Tano. We're trying to find them."
At the sound of their names, the smile slipped from Hondo's features.
"Ventress and Ahsoka, eh? Tssk, tssk, tssk, tssk…" he sighed, and Obi felt his heart slow with dread, fearing the worst. "My friends! You have been going in the wrong direction! We just had word from the Hutt clans that Ventress has been captured, and will be brought before their council. You must go! Go to Nal Hutta!"
And so they did.