A/N: Warning: There are some rather graphic scenes in this chapter, not to mention that it's long. The scenes I speak of are not like R rated, but possibly PG-13. Probably just PG, but I wouldn't know how to rate it. It's probably OK, I just thought I'd warn ya'll!

Eowyn Skywalker: Yes... mind-probing. I intend on using it again later, I think. Don't worry, it'll stay interesting! And I don't know if you COMPLETELY know where this is going! Not the details, at least...

Mystress Daedra: No, it's not a bad thing, just... different, that's all. I just didn't want to come to the wrong conclusion about your straight-forwardness. Glad you like it! Keep reading!

SoloKenobi: blushes Why thank you! It's great to get so many great compliments! I'm so glad you like it so much to keep reading, even when it seems to reach some kind of dead end... not sure if that has ever happened, but still! Keep those reviews coming!

Miss Krux: Yes, I read every one I could get my hands on! Of course, that was Dark Rival, Shattered Peace, Deceptions, and The Followers. I admit, not a lot, but Deceptions really gave me an insight toObi's relationship with Garen and Bant.

Foral McDer: AGH! The only reason you get away with that is because you're my BROTHER! Glad you like it... didn't have to be so picky though, did you? giggles Sibling rivallry...

And now, with not much more to say, (other than an apology to my dear GrandMaster for what will now happen to poor Obi) here is the next chapter!

Chapter 6: Hidden Reasons, Difficult Decisions

Anakin waited expectantly. Finally, he thought excitedly, I'm going to get some answers! He stood as patiently as he could. Garen took a deep breath. Well, this is what it had come to. Now he had to do it. No matter how much he didn't want to, there was no avoiding it. He was going to be really disappointed.

This is it, he thought. Then another idea came to his mind. "There is a reason," he said again. "But you know, Anakin, not all reasons need to be known. Your Master asked me a long time ago to promise not to tell anyone his reason. I can't break that promise just because you want to know a reason, can I?" He hoped desperately that this would work.

Anakin thought this over for a while. He hadn't thought of it like that. Maybe Garen was right. He looked up at Garen, his eyes thoughtful. "I suppose not," he said, still thinking. "I guess I didn't think of that. Did he really tell you his secrets?"

Garen nodded. "Most of them. And most of the time, I was the only one he told about them. But my guess would be that, if he wanted you to know, he would tell you himself, don't you think?" Garen waited almost anxiously, hoping he had successfully gotten himself out of the mess he had nearly gotten himself into.

Anakin thought some more about this. Garen's argument sounded reasonable enough, but even if he was just trying to get out of telling, Anakin figured he was better off helping than standing around asking questions. He nodded. "I guess you're right," he answered as earnestly as he could. He still thought he should know about these things, whether Garen wanted to tell him or not, and he didn't think his Master would ever tell him. So he feigned agreement, resolving to persist the matter later.

Garen smiled at him. "Good," he said, clearly pleased that he had gotten out of that. "Now," he continued. "Are we going to find those branches, or will we have to go back to camp empty-handed?" Anakin grinned and started searching for branches, his mind all the time working out how exactly he was going to get this information out of someone.

Suddenly Garen stiffened. He didn't know if he had heard something, or if it was just a feeling, but something was wrong. He could feel some uncontrollable malice, some wild anger unleashed nearby. He dropped the branches he was carrying and turned to Anakin. The boy seemed to have picked it up also. "What is it?" he asked the Padawan. He wanted to see what the Anakin thought of the situation.

Anakin had a troubled look on his face. "I can't tell," he answered carefully, reaching out tentatively toward the feeling. "But I think someone's in trouble!"

"I agree," Garen said nodding. "Let's go back to camp. I hope no one's hurt!"

The two of them ran back through the forest the way they had come. Over it all, the tall wroshyr trees loomed darkly, uncaring about anything, continuing their long growth upward, heedless of the world of danger beneath them.

Bant Eerin studied the other two figures in the clearing carefully. Obi-Wan had stood up and was walking the perimeter of the camp site, supposedly to make sure there was nothing amiss nearby. But Bant knew better. He was trying to pull himself together, to avoid the inevitable stress breakdown of nine years ago. Perhaps he was even trying to muster the courage to tell Adi the truth.

Bant turned her attention to Adi Gallia, who was sitting down next to her, the eight tentacle-like tails of her Corellian headdress draped gracefully down her back. She was obviously thinking very hard about something, and Bant thought she knew what it was, but couldn't be sure.

As a matter of fact, Adi was thinking. She was once again thinking about Obi-Wan, but this time she was forcing herself to think about him. She remembered when she was twenty-one years old. She had already become a Jedi Knight, and her Master, Mace Windu, had told her she was going to be on the Council. She had always been a fast learner, and it had finally paid off. She had gone to tell Obi-Wan, but to the day she could not figure out why. Maybe it was because she wanted to taunt him. Maybe it was because she wanted him to say something serious about it. Whatever the reason, he had responded differently than she had expected. Everything, it seemed to her, was different than she expected.

"You're on the Council now?"

"Yes, I am. I always was a fast learner. Well, faster than you, at any rate!"

"Or so you'd like to believe."

"You're joking again, aren't you?"

"I was? Oh, I'm sorry. I thought that was why you told me. Didn't you want some sort of humor to lighten the situation?"

"I don't know what I wanted. I don't even know why I came to tell you. I just..."

"Just what?"

"Never mind. Why are you so serious all the time now?"

"We don't need to get into that."

"Why not? You're awfully secretive these days. What are you trying to keep from me? Tell me!"

"Whatever it was, it's in the past now. There's no need to bring up past grievances."

"Then why do I get the feeling it's not as over as you'd like to think?"

He hadn't answered. He had left the comment hanging, turning away and avoiding her gaze. Now that she thought about it, he had had traces of that pained look in his face at the time. Perhaps it was something he needed to talk about, no matter how much he didn't want to. Well, she was going to make him tell her, no matter what it took. She stood up decisively and walked over to where he stood staring at the ground, seemingly deep in thought.

Obi-Wan looked up as she approached, almost dreading what she was there for. He knew. She knew that he knew. They were out of sight and hearing range of anyone else. That should have given him some confidence, but it didn't. On the contrary, he was more on edge. There was no where else to hide from her. He would have to tell her.

She could sense his disquiet. In a way, it pushed her farther forward. She knew she had him in a corner. But she tried to act as calm as possible. She didn't want to make things harder for him. She just wanted answers to her own questions. She walked up and stood in front of him, holding his gaze firmly with her own.

"What's wrong?" she asked firmly, almost simply. It was the one thing that had been on her mind since they had started this mission. There had to be something eating at him. She desperately wanted to know what it was. He looked at her with a cornered, surrendered look in his bright eyes.

"I suppose there's no more avoiding you, is there?" he asked in response. He could feel it all coming. His biggest secret was about to come crashing down. There was nothing he could do.

Adi shook her head, waiting. "No, so I suggest you just stop trying. I know something's bothering you. Why don't you just tell me?" She stood there, waiting patiently while he made up his mind. Part of her was eager to find out what was going on. Part of her was dreading it.

Finally, he drew a deep breath and faced her determinedly. He had to tell her, no matter what she said about it. "Adi," he began. "There's something I need to tell you, and I should have told you a long time ago."

Adi smirked. "I thought so," she said triumphantly. "I've been trying for years to get it out of you. Am I finally going to get some answers?" She watched him carefully, waiting for some kind of response from the young man.

He nodded, an almost sad look in his eyes, as if he knew what she would say, and yet also knew that her finding out was inevitable. "Yes," he answered slowly. "You're going to get the answers you've been looking for, but it won't be easy for either of us." He hesitated for a moment, trying to get a grip on his feelings, trying to put his thoughts together so he could tell them to her. It seemed to him to be an impossible feat, and yet he was able to get them together enough to get them out.

"What do you mean, it won't be easy?" Adi asked cautiously, prodding him forward. She wanted to get this over as soon as possible. He was starting to scare her a little, and she didn't know why. She sought out his eyes, which had somehow dropped again to the ground, and held them there with her own. There was something else there, besides the yielding to her questioning, besides the pain of the unknown torment. Something that was avoiding her, and yet reaching out for her, yearning to be discovered, and yet afraid of being found. She wondered if this was the hidden torture, this strange feeling that was tearing him two ways.

Obi-Wan gazed at her, knowing she was finally glimpsing something of his feelings, but he wouldn't let her see them. Not yet, at least. He would have her wait, until he had explained some less complicated things. If she would let him, that is. She was getting impatient with him, and he could feel it.

"It's nothing serious."

The memory came back to him. If only he could say the same to Adi. But chances were she'd just tell him that it was serious, that she was really worried, and that he had to tell her, no matter what. And yet he could just barely get words out of his mouth.

"Adi," Obi-Wan said shakily. "Did... did Qui-Gon talk to you much about your secret admirer after... after that day you found your last gift?" He tried to remember exactly what Qui-Gon had told him. He remembered that his Master had said he would have to talk to Adi, but didn't remember if he had said exactly what he was going to say.

Adi looked at him curiously, but answered his question as truthfully as possible, none-the-less. "Well," she said absent-mindedly, as she went back into her memories. "He came to me that day I told you about the flower, and told me he had found my secret admirer. He also told me you were sick that day. I wondered what had happened, but he said it was best to leave you be that day. You were never quite the same afterwards, and you never told me what happened."

Obi-Wan was silent for a moment as he thought back to the terrible day he had been mind probed by his Master. "That was also the day Qui-Gon decided to find out my deepest secrets," he said quietly, almost humorously, trying to make it sound like a coincidence and failing miserably.

Adi caught on all too well, but hid it for a while longer. "He also said that when the time came, he would tell me who it was. I suppose..." her breath caught in her throat as she remembered the Jedi Master, what he had been to her, how much he had meant to everyone at the Temple, the great loss everyone felt now that he was gone.

Obi-Wan knew how she felt. He felt the same way himself, only deeper. His relationship with Qui-Gon had been much deeper, more of a father-son relationship than anything else. But past aside, he still had something to tell Adi. "I knew who your secret admirer was," he said, his voice low. He didn't want anyone else hearing, although there was no one around to hear. He could see her waiting eagerly, awaiting the one thing she had longed to know for as long as she could remember. He sighed as he turned away. He couldn't do this to her. He couldn't tell her this, tell her the cold truth of it, bring her hopes crashing down on her. But he had to.

He turned back to her, one thing shining out from his blue eyes. Adi shrank back at what she saw there. She had known it might be true, but she didn't want to believe it. She was scared by what she saw in his eyes, and yet something in her was mesmerized by it. Something deep within her said that she had always known, told her that it was nothing less than what was in the deepest places of her own feelings. And something screamed out at her that what she was about to do was the wrong reaction to what she was experiencing.

"No," she whispered fearfully, shrinking back still more, giving in to the feeling that told her to push it away, giving in to the terror and shock of it all. She saw the pain and regret in his face as he saw what she thought of it, but also she could discern that same I-told-you-so look mirroring her own. He had known she would react like this. Why had he let her know?

That other side of her popped out again. Look what you have done! But she hadn't done anything, had she? You are not worthy of what he is trying to give you! What was that voice talking about? How could you do this to him when all he's ever done is love you? She hadn't done anything, aside from what she was supposed to do, she was sure of it. You are blind! You still cannot see! After all these years you couldn't see it! You very well may have lost your chance. But she hadn't wanted that chance in the first place, she argued. Oh, you didn't, did you? Then why were you so disappointed when Qui-Gon told you there would be no more secret admirer?

Adi didn't have a chance to respond, for at that moment, Obi-Wan found the courage to speak. "I had to tell you," he said, his voice shaking, almost desperate. "You have to believe me, Adi." Adi just shook her head, continuing to back away. "Adi, I love you." There, it was finally out, and yet there was no escape from it, nor was there any stopping the sudden torrent of his feelings from spilling themselves over.

"No," Adi said again, stronger this time. At least one of them needed some control, and he seemed to have lost his completely. She had to take a firm stand, had to resist this thing that had somehow welled up between them. That little voice inside her was screaming at her to stop acting like this, to stop being so foolish. But the other side of her screamed louder that these feelings were foolish, that acting like this was the best alternative. She was torn between the two, torn between her training and the temptation of this feeling, the young man standing before her nearly begging her to listen to that smaller voice.

"Adi, you have to understand," he went on, seeing the fight going on inside her. "I tried to forget about it, but I can't! No matter what Qui-Gon said, no matter what you say, I can't deny my feelings any longer. They're too deeply rooted to just pass off anymore. I love you, and there's nothing more to it. And yet there doesn't need to be. It couldn't be any simpler than that, and yet you think it's so complicated. Just listen to me."

He reached impulsively for her hand, trying to sway her toward that faint voice inside her. "No!" she screamed pulling away and finally running back toward the camp, toward her safe friends, toward a place where she could hide from it all. She looked back once, and immediately regretted not only the decision to look back, but also her reaction to what he had told her. She saw there in his face more pain and torment than he had ever shown. But it was there for only a moment more, and then his face was once again a mask of his emotions.

She rushed back into the clearing, one hand to her head. She felt dizzy, elated, frustrated, disappointed with herself. She saw Bant standing, her yellow eyes focused on the darkness of the forest ahead. It took Adi a moment to sift through the confusion in her own mind, but she soon picked up on what was wrong. There, just beyond the tree line, was a large Corellian sand panther. Their supplies and weapons were a farther distance behind them than the panther was in front of them.

Adi stopped dead in her tracks. The sand-panther was obviously imported, though whether it had escaped from some circus or its parents had escaped from some other situation was not important. She could feel the creature's malice, its terrible intent all too clear. The great monster was about to have lunch if something didn't happen soon.

Something did happen. The great beast leaped swiftly toward them. Bant stood there looking at Adi, her eyes mirroring the same thing Adi was feeling. This was it, the end of it all. They were weaponless, and it was doubtful Garen would get there in time. Adi closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable death that was sure to come.

It never did.

After several seconds, Adi opened her eyes. She almost wished she hadn't, for the scene that greeted her was far from pleasant. The panther had been somehow knocked on its back in mid-leap, but was now rolling back over, something pinned beneath its large paws. It didn't take Adi long to see that it was a human. Garen? She soon saw also, though, that it wasn't Garen.

As the beast prepared to slice him with its gigantic claws, Obi-Wan gathered his feet up and kicked the enormous monster in the stomach. It only gave him a moment, but that moment was all he needed to roll out from under the creature. Howling in rage, the monster came at him. He had no time to draw his lightsaber, which was attached to his belt. All he could do was dodge the monster's enormous claws and hideously large teeth. This he did as best he could, while all the time trying to get a free moment to draw his weapon.

Adi immediately ran toward the supplies, searching out her lightsaber. She was completely terrified, but she knew Obi-Wan wouldn't hold out long against that creature virtually weaponless. Finally, she found it. It was a unique build, designed for reverse handling. The brass-colored emission plate gleamed in the failing light. Gripping it tightly with the plate facing down, she raced back toward the terrible beast. It was beginning to gain an advantage. At any moment it could easily slice Obi-Wan down. It now had him down on the ground and was once again preparing to cut through his back with its great claws.

Adi flicked her crimson blade on. It came to life with a hissing sound, and the hum that emitted from the bright blade drew the creature's attention away from its prey. Adi twirled it around once, then lunged at the sand panther, aiming for its throat. The creature had amazing reflexes. It ducked as the red blade passed harmlessly over it, then rose back up to jump at her. Adi moved her lightsaber in position to bring it down at the creature, but she had underestimated the monster's intelligence. Instead of jumping forward at her, it jumped back, out of the way of the laser-sword. Then it pounced back forward and sliced at the bright weapon in her hand. One claw connected with the emission plate, severing it from the hilt and cutting the power.

Adi fell back from the force of the blow. Obi-Wan was just reaching for his own weapon, having gotten back to his feet, when the monster turned once again to him and knocked him back down to the ground. His head struck the side of a rock as he landed on his back, and, turning his head for a split second, he realized that there were several sharp rocks lying nearby. He reached out with his right hand, searching for a good sized one, while keeping off the monster's large paws with his left hand. At last, his hand reached a smooth, flat stone that was slightly curved, in a shape more or less like a knife. One edge was jagged and sharp as a vibroblade. Taking it up in his right hand and shifting it into a usable position, he turned back to the panther.

The creature raised one paw to slice at him. In that moment, Obi-Wan rolled back out from underneath the monster, striking out at the beast with his primitive weapon. The stone just barely grazed the panther's right shoulder, leaving a minor wound. Screaming in pain, the monster lunged again, slashing and slicing with its massive claws. Obi-Wan blocked as well as he could with his stone knife, but the sand panther was once again gaining an advantage.

Just then, the great monstrous beast reared up on its hind legs and gave a tremendous leap, its massively heavy paws connecting with the young Jedi's chest and knocking him once more to the ground. The impact very nearly knocked the wind out of Obi-Wan, but fortunately he was able to keep his grip on the sharp stone in his hand. The panther was getting smarter. Placing one heavy paw on Obi-Wan to hold him down, it raised its other paw, claws bared menacingly, fully intending to finally and completely terminate this nuisance that stood between it and its meal. Obi-Wan tried to move to the side, but the creature's paw prevented him from moving far enough.

It was then that the creature's claws found a mark. Obi-Wan stifled a cry as pain shot through his left shoulder. The rest of his arm seemed to have gone numb. He slashed out with the knife-like stone at the panther's left shoulder, digging it in so that the creature would take its paw off of him. Howling with pain and anger, the monster lifted its body farther from the ground in a failing effort to get away. Obi-Wan reached up with his right arm and dug the sharp rock into the beast's chest. Dark blood trickled out from the fatal wound, spilling onto the ground, staining the dirt and rocks below the panther. The monster howled once more, then fell silent as it toppled forward onto its vanquisher.

Adi watched in horror and relief as the great beast fell dead. She went slowly forward, fearing the worse. She had seen the sand panther's wounding strike. She wondered if it was already too late. Bant ran forward after her, worry clearly evident in her sad eyes. As they worked together to heave the great beast off, Adi could hear that small voice in her head, scolding her once more.

I told you so! You don't deserve what he just did! Can you truthfully tell me now that you don't love him? Adi didn't know how to respond. She was caught in her feelings, caught between wanting to continue resisting and wanting to give in and follow her feelings. And yet the small voice was winning.

Garen and Anakin burst into the clearing just as Bant and Adi were pulling the unconscious warrior from beneath the dead sand panther. The sharp stone was still embedded in the monster's heart.

MWAHAHAHA! Another evil cliffie! OK, so let me know what you guys think! Sorry again, Jandalf!