Author Note: As always, I don't own Star Wars or its characters. Thank you for continuing to read. This story does contain SPOILERS to The Mandalorian or The Book of Boba Fett.

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Din followed the fob into a gambling house in the middle of the city. Walking around the city reminded him of Grogu. Sometimes he would turn around and look down, just to see if the kid was following, knowing that he wasn't. That it was impossible. Grogu had impacted him more than he had cared to admit. He felt like he was constantly missing something. Like he forgot to put on his helmet after washing his face. Or as if he walked into a fight and didn't bring his blaster. Something was just missing.

He was pulled abruptly from his train of thought by the incessant beeping of his fob. That only meant one thing, his bounty was close. He held the fob in his hand, moving it around towards the right, just as a woman passed by. Something bizarre happened. The beeping stopped. Din made eye contact with the woman through his helmet. He studied her like a good hunter would and had her specifics memorized in a mere passing second. He noted dark eyes lined with dark makeup, dark brown hair pulled back, aged mid twenties, short 5'1 or 5'2", 110 lbs, black cropped top, purple leggings, black boots, black hooded cloak. No weapons noted, possibly hidden under the cloak. Nothing to slow her down. She looked quick. Light. The seasoned hunter in him just knew this was her. He looked down at his fob to confirm it, but the fob lay broken in his hand. How? The woman? She never touched him? He grunted, threw down the fob and started the chase. The chase was one of the best parts of the job. And he could tell, this would be a good chase, he smirked.

By the way the woman ran, whether or not she was truly his bounty, she had something to hide. She kept looking back at him as she pushed her way through the crowd, trying to lose him. She came across a man sitting on a speeder bike. In one smooth kick she had the man on the floor and herself mounted on the bike, taking off. He noted the direction she headed as he raced into an empty ally to start his jet pack. He propelled onto a building near to where the bike was headed, and he waited. Then he jumped onto the back of her speeder bike as it zipped by below.

The woman growled and cussed, which was slightly adorable coming from such a tiny human. Then she did something he didn't at all expect. She flipped the speeder with both of them still on it, like a crazy person, and started scaling an adjacent building avoiding the chaos she created. Din silently admired her acrobatics as he regained his own composure, having taken an uncomfortable tumble off the speeder. Again, he marked the direction she headed. He followed her on foot this time, trying this with a bit more finesse.

He followed her into a building, one he quickly realized was a fighting den. He was immediately greeted by 5 large and angry friends of hers. He could barely see her through the wall of angry, grunting muscle. But there she was, waving her thank you's at her large friends before slipping out the back door. Din sighed, "I have no quarrel with you… er gentlemen," he began, then he palmed his blaster, "step aside and let me pass, no one has to get hurt."

Of course they don't listen. No one ever listens. Now the dance, another favorite part of hunting. None of them were lives anymore, just obstacles. A Gamorrean was first to swing at him. Not that it mattered what lifeform he was at this point. Din easily avoids this blow, landing a punch of his own between the creature's arm and shoulder, effectively dislocating it. While the Gamorrean stumbles back to moan over his limb, a sunset-colored Devaronian and his twin come from either side. One goes down with a blaster to his side, the other with a matching blaster hole and a swift kick to the side of the head. Adding insult to injury. The Gamorrean gets up. Din would prefer to only have to attack the same guy one time. He didn't have time for anything long or drawn out. He was on the chase, and was currently wasting his energy. But this one was practically asking for a matching dislocated arm on his other side, Din was happy to oblige.

At this point, one of the 5 runs away. One always does. Smart of him really. Stepping over a Devaronian, crying over his new hole, Din ascends upon his last victim, like Death claiming a life. The kind of confidence only a veteran hunter has. This one half-heartedly throws his punch, knowing he isn't winning this fight, but too proud to run away like his friend. Din offered him a dignified down, instant lights-out face smash against the wall. Classic.

By now, Din expected to have to come up with a new plan. The woman would be long gone by now. His eyes locked on the back door. He was surprised to see her still there, and he wasn't an easy guy to surprise. But there, standing across the room, leaning against the doorway of the back door, she stood, watching him.

Din supposed if he had the opportunity to watch his opponent fight, he would too. But not necessarily at the risk of being captured. Unless she wasn't worried about being captured? He considered her position. She looked furious. He couldn't imagine she was angry about the guys he just put down. She didn't seem like the type to keep anyone close to her heart. Din was an excellent judge of character, he speculated that she was angry because unlike Din, she didn't like the chase.

She took a few steps forward, her boots clicking against the tiled floor. "Tired?" She asked.

"If you were trying to tire me, you'll have to try harder," Din replied.

She circled him, still keeping her distance. From what Din could tell, she had no escape and no weapons. She was delaying the inevitable. She kept him at a distance because she wasn't strong enough for close combat. Meaning all he had to do was conserve enough strength, get close to her, and deliver her one good blow.

Din watched as she walked around the creatures that littered the floor. She knelt next to the Devaronian. "Does it hurt?" She asked with a pout. He coughed, whimpered and rolled over nodding. "Tell me," she said, stroking his cheek with two fingers, "tell me how much it hurts." Then she drove her two fingers into his wound and he howled, nearly passing out from the pain.

She wiped her fingers on a clean spot on his shirt and rose to her feet. She was careful to avoid stepping in the pool of blood forming at her toes. She turned around towards the bounty hunter. Din now had his blaster pointed at her head. "I don't have a bounty on me, I'm afraid you made a mistake," she said.

"I don't make mistakes," Din reassured her, his blaster unwavering.

"And if I go with you? Where will you be taking me I wonder?" She asked, putting a finger to her lips, one of the fingers that had just been inside someone's blaster wound.

"It doesn't matter," he said sharply.

"It does to me!" She sneered.

At that moment she stuck her hand out towards him, like she was grabbing something invisible in front of her. Had he never met Grogu, he wouldn't know what she was doing. He would have hesitated at her movements. But his quick instincts tightened his grip on his blaster, and as she squeezed, choking him from across the room, using what he had recently come to understand as the force, he aimed and squeezed. He landed a shot between her neck and her shoulder. It was a graze but he knew it would be enough for her to lose her concentration, releasing him. Then he ran, quickly closing the space between them. She clutched her shoulder, and let out one lusty whimper before he had her. He gripped her head in one hand and smashed it against the nearby wall.

She crumpled like a doll, down the wall and onto the floor. Din examined her head until he was satisfied that it was just the right amount of pressure to put her out, give her a good headache later, but not harm her long term. He had gotten good at judging the amount of force it took to harm versus kill over the years. He threw her over his shoulder. As he did, he noticed something he hadn't before. It was the silver hilt of a weapon he'd seen Ahsoka Tano wield, a lightsaber. He took it off her waist and pocketed it... but then, his curiosity bested him...

Din took the weapon back out of his pocket. And held it out, away from himself and away from the woman's limp body, hanging around his shoulder. He knew the kind of damage a weapon like this could cause when not handled properly. He ignited the weapon, and was momentarily lost in its captivating red glow. He now understood Bo's concerns. Darth Maul had a saber just like this one. He had heard of the trouble Maul had given Bo Katan and all of Mandalore in the past. Din clicked the saber again, and it sheathed inside itself. He returned it to his pocket, finally understanding the importance of this bounty.

This explained her odd behaviors too, his fob magically breaking, waiting and watching his fight, inflicting unnecessary pain. He remembered the stun cuffs at his waist and debated whether or not to use them. He sighed, he wasn't getting paid enough for this. He wasn't technically getting paid at all.

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