DISCLAIMER: Not mine. The guy in the flannel shirt's, AKA Lucas.

Note: The last chapter...sucked. And I'm sorry about offending anyone, the owrds came out waaay wrong and thus, it sounded like I asked for no criticism. Such is not the case, and I apologize. Seriously. I'm sorry.

And the long update time is due to severe burn-out and writer's block...Both myself and Yavie burned out to the point where we couldn't even look at the story, much less write it. Add in a couple Shakespeare reasearch papers, a few essays on Macbeth and Oedipus Rex, the book The Color of Water, several Bio assignments, and a lot of work in the way of graphics design, and you have our lives...sorry, seriously.

We're getting there, please review. Let's say...reveiwer 100 gets...ummm...(thinks) a letter from us? And pictures to laugh at? And maybe their name in the story?

Yeah, ok, I'm finally almost done. The other reason I haven't been updating is that I've had saeveral nice stories I've been working on. One of them, which was started after we published the previous chappy of NstS, now outweighs the word count here; must fix! And if you're feeling nice...(hint hint hint) check out our other stories...especially mine...Azrael, Tourniquet of Tears, Pleasure Before your Pain and Tears, and Soaring the Skies...(hint hint) reviews are appreciated... Heh.

More reviews means more chapters!

Oh, yeah... before this chapter begins, a song that I'd like to introduce to tie in the chapter...these are most of the lyrics...

THE REMEMBERANCE BALLAD (by Atreyu)

These days are closing in.
The end has become apparent.
We're only here for so long.
Will anyone remember my name
When time has washed away
The dust…of my ashes?
When my head rests in a velvet lined casket?
What's out there?
What is my eternal fate?
It only just recently hit me
That this life…is just a state.
Mortality fading,
Like the innocence of love,
I'm scared to death
Of what's to become

Of my immortal soul
Of this eternal flame, will you remember?
Will your heart sing with pain?
Who calls out my name?
Who can tell me what happens,
When my eyes close for the last time?
Does it all simply end, in a blanket of darkness?
What of my soul, what of my soul?

All those things you couldn't say, you should have said.
All those "I love you"s lost,
Weighed more like lead on your chest.
All those things you couldn't say, you should have said.
All those "I love you"s lost,
Weighed more like lead on your chest.


It's Not All Fun and Games

(And you can't always be the hero)

"'Maru?" Chiara asked, grinning widely at the sleepily yawning Imaru.

"Wha—what?" she asked, cut off by another yawn.

"Sleepyhead...get up!" she yelled, beginning to gently whack the younger girl with assortments of pillows. "Oh, c'mon, Kai-chan! There's a thunderstorm," she tried once more, using the Force to levitate a blanket on the sleeping girl's head while maintaining a distance from her. Imaru was decidedly not a morning person.

"Thunderstorm? Where?" 'Maru asked, dressed in her light purple fleecies.

"Outside, hurry up!" yelled Chiara, joining Liam and Nûniel on their way out. All of them were still wearing their 'fleecies', or sleepwear. Enya was brought along by Liam, who gave her a piggy-back ride.

It was already raining as the small group of children gathered at the side of the Temple to watch the thunderstorm. They did this nearly every time there was a storm, and so far, they hadn't gotten caught. The rain was cool and clean, and most of them lifted their heads to the sky to drink in the rain water. As the lightning struck one of the many electrical attractors in the area, Enya would cover her ears. She loved rain, not thunder. It scared her.

Chiara, on the other hand, was enjoying herself immensely. The rain was soothing and calming from her usual hyperactive and overly talkative behaviour. The thunder gave her ideas for art, since her painings already decorated the space she was supposed to be living in. But she had already thrown her lot inwith Liam, Enya, Nûniel, and now the Jinn twins. Thus the name Jinn Corps. had come from it and led the entire group into identifying themselves as Jinns.

Liam leaned into the wind, letting the Force keep him steady. Putting his arms out, he called to Imaru.

"Hey, Imaru! I'm flying!" Grinning widely, he watched in wonder as the lightning came down again, the rain beginning to pick up. Seating himself next to Enya, he listened to the small giggles that she emitted and smiled, gently picking her up and seating her in his lap. Watching her snuggle close to him to watch the rain she was carefully shielded from, he placed a soft kiss on the top of her head, almost forgetting that he wasn't old enough to be a father yet. It seemed so natural to take care of her as if she was his, or at least his sister. He had always loved her, from the moment she had looked at him and run over to cling to him. And at the same time, he knew that it was against the Jedi Code to love. But this was alright, wasn't it? He would ask later.

Enya looked up at Liam, snuggling close to his chest and burying her head in the blue flannel he was wearing. When he placed a kiss on his head, she giggled again.

"Muah!" she said, giving a big air-kiss to him. When he looked down she was curled up again, wide green eyes open to the rain that Kai and Alca called 'triau'. She meeped once and settled back in.

Nûniel still stood with her mouth open to the rain. Her salmon-pink skin absorbed some of the rain, taking it as a blessing. It made her wonder what her homeland was like, for the Jedi Master that had found her had once told her she was from Coruscant. She didn't know, and wanted to see the land of water. That was what some of the other Jedi called it, the land where water was everywhere. Smiling, she tried to remember what it was that she had remembered from her childhood last night, but couldn't. Shrugging mentally, she decided to let it come back whenever it wanted to. Force knew she forgot enough, including when to go to sleep and lunchtime. This wasn't too important in comparison.

Imaru surveyed her friends, and simply enjoyed the rain and thunder. Watching the lightning intently, she pondered on the creation of it. The Force had to somehow be pushed out of the atmosphere to create the light, which resulted in extreme heat and a flash of light. The other part of the explanation was the weather patterns around her. Cold temperatures clashed with hot ones, and this was how the energy was pushed out. It all fit together, like the perfect piece to finish a puzzle. Deciding to talk to Alcanar about it later, she went over to tickle Enya and placed her own small kiss on the chibi's head. Smiling gently, she looked around at the hovercrafts and starships around her, waving at random small children as they passed by. It was a great pleasure to make someone smile, and an even greater one simply because of how uncomplicated it was. The simpler things in life were the ones she lived for.


"Okay people!" Nûniel practically screamed, trying to be heard over the massive pillowfight going on. Finally, enlisting Imaru's help, she had all of the pillows Force-lifted and got everyone's attention. "Get a few things from your other rooms and bring them all back here! Stuff you'll be comfortable with, blankies, pillows, and a few decorations and books." The Jinn Corps. had finally managed to rid Liam's room of a bed, a chair or five, and a few other items that were deemed unnecessarily huge for a room with six kids living in it. Since there were two rooms, there was enough room for them...minus two potted plants and an entertainment console. They had all moved the holovideo projector into Liam's closet, so that they could just open up the closet door whenever they wanted it.

"Liam! You sleep here," Chiara pointed, motioning to a corner in the larger second room. "Next to him, Enya, and in the corner beside Liam's is Nûniel, then me, then 'Maru, then Alcanar. All good!" she shouted, running down the hallway outside to her 'other' room.


Liam had already decided to keep a couple pillows, a beanbag chair he had snitched, a few stuffed animals, a small potted tree to shade his corner, and an old meditation rug. It had been easy, and Enya had already chosen her little plant that she liked to take care of; a Telosian Nightbloom Flowering Tree. They all called it simply a Nightbloom, and its flowers would open in shades of orange, purple, yellow, and pink at dusk.

Alcanar picked a couple poetry books, a collapsible drawing easel, a few graphite pencils, a pillow, a blankie, and, after debate, picked up a picture of herself and Imaru from their toddler years.

Chiara had brought her own small easel, a collection of paints, a pillow and fur blanket, as well as a teddy bear. Well, okay, it wasn't a teddy, it was a penguin. But who cared? Dragging a couple paintings from her room along, she finally made it back to the Jinn Corps. HQ.

Imaru brought several manga books, as well as a few science-fiction novels that she and her sister cherished and loved. Bringing along a black canopy to hang from the wals to cover her corner, she also brought along a pillow and a blanket. Hers wasn't a typical blankie, it was like Chiara's and made of fur. False fur, but it was warm, soft, and efficient. Not to mention light to carry...

Nûniel wanted a small fountain, and so she had asked Liam to snitch one of the small Zennish ones from the old training rooms. Aside from that, she had the typical pillow-blankie set, as well as a stuffed animal in the shape of a cat. Smiling, she stuffed a couple candy packets into her pillowcase. She loved sugar.


"What are those crazy kids up to?" Xanatos asked someone. The person's only responce was to shrug and walk away. Following them curiously, hefinally ended up in front of their 'headquarters'. Hearing more giggling than should have been legal, he decided that he didn't want to know.


The next day, it was the average day at the Temple until...

'BANG!'

Oh Sith...Mace Windu and a hundred-odd younglings charged out of the cafeteria to find what was probably three or four thousand balloons of different colours. Some were green, some were pink, some were purple, cerulean, blue, red, white, yellow, orange, and every other shade of the rainbow. As they floated down, each youngling scrambled for one of their own. Inside each was probably six or seven pieces of candy. Plus a watergun.

Oh, no. This sin't going to be good.

Mace Windu tried to leave the scene as a hundred-odd younglings plus whoever else was out by now started their own water fight, complete with hyperactivity from the candy.

Later, Yoda would inquire as to why 'so wet you are, Master Windu'. And the only answer he would get was the cold shoulder.


"That was absolutely brilliant, Imaru!"

"Yeah! Amazing in itself!"

"We've gotta do that again..."

"Has anybody seen the time?"

"Oh, bloody lightsabers! I'm late for sparring class!"

"Me too, Alca, c'mon!"

The ensuing scramble led to Alcanar using Liam's green 'saber, Chiara using one of Imaru's white ones, Nûniel holding Chiara's blue lightsaber, Imaru in posession of one of her own and Alcanar's light saber, and so on. In the end, it took little Enya two hours of scrambling to get them all to the right people.

She managed not to get to Alcanar and Chiara in time, and landed smack in the middle of a duel.

Alcanar weaved in and out of Liam's nimble attacks, and rolled between the boy's legs, hopping up behind her. Liamresponded by flipping away, aided by the Force. Taking a leaf from Imaru's book, he charged the Jinn twin, stopping short just in tome to force Alcanar into a brief attack attempt. Managing to slip between her hands and her chest, his lightsaber quickly touched her neck.

"Very good, Liam, Alcanar. The next pairing..."

Enya forgot entirely why she was there and watched duels for the rest of the class, until she heard a little whisper in the Force.

:Oi, Alca, it's me. So what's up? I heard that your class got stuck with Master Rechar. Is she really as borning as they say:

:Um, duh.. she stands here and lectures us and then tells us to fight. You should fight her, she keeps trying to give us examples of 'good' posture and whatever. She says you mught be a prodigy but you should still be in our class. She also says we're younglings...:

:Yeah, I'll be there in three minutes. Ask her to give you an instruction of a proper duel, against me. Did she say she could defeat me, perchance:

:Yep. I'll ask.:

Walking to the Master, Alcanar bowed and asked,

"Is there a possibility that you could demonstrate a proper duel between yourself and Imaru Anij?"

Looking startled, the Master sighed, but accepted.

"Yes, I would be happy to take her on."

"Glad to hear it, I accept," came a drawling voice.

"Sister!" Alcanar yelled, laughing silently as the entire class jumped.

"Shall we?" 'Maru asked, deliberately taking her saber from Enya and giving Yavie the blue one that she had acciedentially gotten.


The entire class literally stopped breathing as Imaru closed her eyes, gathering the Force. The Master waited, and with a sharp intake of breath, struck a defensive position as the young girl knelt then bounced forward. Whipping out both 'sabers, Imaru smashed them down at the lone Master, calm strength powering every move. Rechar, the Master, took the offensive then, surprising Imaru with a steady series of attacks that were concentrated at her legs. After blocking them, Imaru cartwheeled forward, landing with a soft thud. Slashing forward, she suddenly Force-grabbed the lightsaber the Master was holding and flipped it across the room after deactivation.

"Yield," the cool-headed child ordered.

"A stunning job, that was" Yoda said from across the room.

"Thank you, Master," Imaru said, accepting the praise and a cup of water before leaving.


This is my first offering for this month, truly, I apologize! More on the way, but for now, I ogtta get my chores done.

Apologies in the sincerest form. I also need to brush up on Andante for Violin I. Pretty song, annoying key.

So blessed be!

And review.

-Anij Jinn