I'M NOT DEAD! HOORAY!
Before anything happens, I need to make a few announcements.
It was not my intention to wait as long as I have to post another chapter. Recently, I have started going to college and have started working at a new job. These two activities have left me with little time to write, and whatever time I do have is cut short by homework and being burned out from the previously mentioned subjects.
I meant to try and complete this chapter before the end of the year, but due to writer's block and how I seem to keep writing myself into walls, I figured that it would be best to at least get a preview out while I could.
Once again, I apologize for this.
Response to Reviews:
Abcvoltage: I will give you some credit on the comment on saber skills. What I was trying to say that while he had no experience in dueling with Force users, he was still skilled enough to not be swinging it around like a madman. However, he is very much skilled in all other weaponry. If that makes him underpowered, then allow me to list off a few names. Grievous, Cad Bane, and Savage Opress during the mission to prove himself to Dooku. They don't have the Force, yet they've proved themselves to be every bit as dangerous as Jedi. Also, keep in mind that every Jedi, Sith, and other lightsaber wielders had to start from somewhere.
Jebest14781: Thank you for all three reviews. However, in response to the first one, it was my belief that wasn't considered canon anymore. Even if it was, I would still say that is was more of a test than an official mission.
Avidnarutofan: The 20 questions segment of chapter 3 was a reference to the old Nickelodeon cartoon Penguins of Madagascar, where the four penguins from the movie Madagascar would star and they would get into crazy hijinks and such. I am planning on making the chapters shorter after this, I just wanted to get through the movie portion of the timeline as quick as possible, so that there aren't 10 chapters dedicated to it.
Guest: What in the living f*ck is a Cuddle Buddy, and why do I feel like I would need therapy if I found out?
Anyway, onto the story. A little warning though, things kinda get complicated in this chapter. At least, in my opinion.
WARNING: Ventress is definitely OOC in the beginning of the chapter, but I swear if you power through it, you'll see why.
ATTENTION! I'm currently looking for any DeviantArt artists that are willing to make covers for the following stories:
Warrior
Producing Pair
Working Again
16 Beasts
And one more story that I am keeping secret at the moment.
PM me if any of you want to give it a try.
I do not own Naruto or Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
(Author Input)
'Thoughts'
"Talking"
Warrior
Teth-Temple Balcony
"I think we should let them take Rotta back."
With one single sentence, the atmosphere between the leader of the Shadows and the apprentice of Dooku changed drastically.
A pressure seemed to envelope the balcony the two shared, and Naruto could've sworn he felt his ears pop from it. Each breath he took felt shallower than the last. Little by little, until the Mandalorian was almost consciously inhaling and exhaling. He already knew what the reason was for this behavior. It was standing right next to him.
It was why the whiskered mercenary mentally sighed.
This was not how he wanted to do this, but he could see no other time where he would get a chance. When the attack started, Naruto had no doubt that they would constantly be in the middle of some fight or goal. There would never be a chance to talk in private except for now, and the Mandalorian had to risk it.
"What did you say?" Ventress questioned in a quiet, yet harsh tone.
Naruto was broken out of his thoughts and internally cringed when he heard her question.
He knew that Ventress not agreeing to help was a possibility. Hell, the possibility was so large that it might as well have been categorized as what would happen instead of what could happen. But Naruto had made his choice, so he steeled his nerves, kept his eyes on the horizon, and then repeated himself.
"I said that I think that we should help the Republic return Rotta back to his father."
After that, the two stayed in silence filled with tension akin to that of a waiting for a bomb to go off.
Then, the metaphorical bomb finally reached its explosion.
The Mandalorian barely had time to register the unseen force wrapped around his neck before he was whipped away from the railing. His nerves sent a blaze of pain across his back as his body collided with the stone material of the wall of the balcony. After that, the whiskered blond felt the invisible hands lift him up by the throat to a height that left him with dangling legs.
Ventress had her hand held out in a gripping gesture, showing that it was she who kept the Mandalorian in the air telekinetically.
Fury burned in her veins, and betrayal shone in her eyes. Eyes which had turned into narrowed cerulean. A snarl had parted her lips, showing gritted teeth.
"You dare betray my master! Betray me!?" Ventress growled out softly, so their enemies didn't hear them.
She didn't know why she added that second part, but it could wait.
Naruto clawed at the invisible hands that held his neck in a vice grip, cutting off all oxygen to his lungs.
"It's not about Dooku!" The Mandalorian replied in a hoarse voice.
He only managed to make the Sith assassin angrier it seems, for she increased the pressure on his throat and lifted him up in the air.
"Then why? Why are you betraying us now, and what made you think I would agree?" Ventress questioned.
However, due to lack of the life sustaining air that his lungs needed, Naruto couldn't answer her question and instead, pleaded with her to let him go.
"Need…air…to make…sound!" Naruto gasped, using the last bit of breath he had left to beg.
Ventress contemplated the idea for a second, before begrudgingly accepting the mercenary's terms and releasing him.
Naruto fell to his hands and knees, desperately inhaling fresh breaths of air into his lungs and getting his blood oxidized again.
SNAP! HISS!
Only to stop when the feeling of immense heat being emanated on the right side of his neck. Looking up, Naruto stared at his Sith partner as she pointed her saber at his jugular.
"Talk."
Raising his hands up in a surrendering gesture, the Mandalorian slowly rose to his feet while Ventress continued to keep her saber on him the entire time.
"I thought that you would be sympathetic to him." Naruto managed to choke out.
The Mandalorian could've sworn that he felt the very tip of the blood red energy blade graze his skin after he said his answer.
Ventress's eyes, previously filled with only fury, now contained a small hint of confusion.
"Why?" She inquired.
Naruto sighed. What he was about to say may end up costing him his head, but he had to do it. For Rotta.
"Because you went through the same thing that's happening to him."
The Mandalorian watched as his words struck a nerve in the Sith assassin's composure. Ventress's eyes widened slightly in shock before narrowing in even greater anger than before.
"What are you talking about?" She demanded through clenched teeth.
'No turning back now.' Naruto thought before beginning his explanation.
"Back on the Trident, when I talked about how you were okay with kidnapping children, you looked like someone who had just been slapped."
Pointing a finger at her, Naruto added, "Hell, you yourself even said that you weren't okay with kidnapping either!"
Anger flowed through Ventress's mind as the Mandalorian's words echoed in her mind.
How dare he. The mercenary had no right to use her history against her. He had no idea what she went through, what she had to suffer through, what she lost along the way.
A dull throb of pain began in her head, making the Sith assassin wince in discomfort.
"Stop it." She muttered.
But Naruto didn't stop. He kept going, kept pushing, unaware of what he was doing to Ventress.
"Then, while we were waiting for the Republic to show up, you talked about a past you wanted to forget."
Both Ventress's anger and headache rose, the latter causing her to hold her head with her free hand, as Naruto continued to list off evidence that he had gathered to support his theory.
"Stop it." She said again, this time in a normal tone of voice.
The Mandalorian heard her this time but didn't realize how serious she was. He didn't know if he would be able to continue if he paused in his comments. For all he knew, if he stopped, Ventress would cut him down without a second thought.
"It doesn't take a genius to figure out what caused those memories to start coming to the surface. During the entire mission on Christophsis, not one time did I see you act this way. Now we're here, guarding a child that we kidnapped, and you're acting like you're constantly trying to repress something."
The hooded Sith's pale fingertips dug into her skull as the pain worsened.
She wanted him to stop-no, she needed him to stop.
"I said stop it!" Ventress shouted.
To ensure that what she ordered would happen, the female Sith rushed into the Mandalorian's personal space.
Naruto was unprepared for Ventress's sudden movement and wasn't able to react in time for what happened next.
Reaching out with her free hand, Dooku's apprentice gripped the whiskered mercenary's shoulder and pulled him in close enough to where their faces were almost touching. Once that action was completed, Ventress wasted no time in putting her saber up against Naruto's throat again.
The actions just described happened all in the manner of one second, so there was a pause just after so that the two could register what just happened.
For a second, a tiny second, Naruto thought about reaching for one of his holstered blasters. However, after taking another second to register the position they were in, the whiskered mercenary acknowledged that he would be dead in less than a second.
Then he looked at his partner and felt a pang of guilt hit him.
Back when he had begun his tirade, Ventress still had her hood on from her cloak and was far enough away to where the hood could cover her face somewhat, but now? Now she was up close and personal, and while she still had the hood on, it did nothing to hide her facial expressions.
Anger, hate, and betrayal were all presented clearly in the Sith assassin's eyes.
Naruto knew then that he had crossed a line that he shouldn't have. He had used something that Ventress had told him, maybe even trusted him with, against her. But it needed to be done in order to get his point across, no matter the cost.
"You are going to listen and not say a word, do you understand?"
Ventress's voice made Naruto snap back into reality.
With fearless eyes, the Mandalorian nodded slowly and carefully, as to not be cut by the saber being held against him.
"You think you know what person I am? What I've been through?"
She brought the blood red blade closer to his throat until it was just centimeters away from Naruto's jugular.
"Do you honestly think you have the right to lecture me about what I've done, mercenary?"
She emphasized that last word, as if to use the Mandalorian's occupation against him.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at Ventress, catching the subtle jab against him. He ultimately let it go, knowing that he had just done more than enough to deserve it.
Instead, he answered the question she gave him.
"No, Ventress. I don't have the right."
The Sith assassin was slightly taken back by the fact that the son of Satine agreed with her, before listening to the rest of what he had to say.
"But that doesn't mean that what I'm saying is wrong."
Dooku's apprentice grit her teeth at the statement, yet some part of her was wanting the Mandalorian to continue what he was saying.
"If I'm right, that means you're pretty much helping Dooku do the exact same thing to someone else."
The Sith assassin couldn't believe that Naruto had the gall to say that to her face since she could easily end his life with a simple flick of her wrist, yet here he was, doing exactly that. That was such a shock to her that it made her think for a second about what the Mandalorian was saying.
The relationship between her and her past was…difficult to understand, to say the least. In some ways, she could remember what had happened to her and what led up to this moment like stating facts. But to actually remember, to go back and recall the thoughts, feelings, faces, and images that she had experienced back then, that was when the pain began.
Even now, the Sith assassin's head held a small ache as she thought of how her special case of recollection.
Dismissing the discomfort in her mind, Ventress used the former version of remembrance that she had become accustomed to for most of her life and recalled her series of events. Then, she grinded down her story to its base facts, basically making it into a version where it would sound like something anyone could have gone through, and then did the same for Rotta's story.
It was then that Ventress's eyes widened in realization that the situations were indeed similar, and that threw a wrench into her mindset.
Light and Dark weren't there, so that meant she was going to be allowed to figure this one out on her own, something that she wasn't sure how she felt about at this point.
But before anything, she needed to know one thing.
"H-How d-d-did-" Ventress tried to ask.
The apprentice of Dooku mentally scolded herself for sounding so weak. She hated how she seemed to be able to command armies of battle droids without fear, yet she couldn't ask such a simple question. Though, to be fair, what she was asking was no simple question. At least, not to her.
Naruto's eyes softened when he heard Ventress's sentence fragment. He didn't even need a guess as to what it was.
"How did I know?" He left the question hanging so that she could have the freedom to answer herself.
Ventress closed her eyes and nodded softly.
"With enough pieces of a puzzle, you can still get a general idea of what the picture is."
All she did was nod again. She didn't speak, she didn't move from her spot, and she didn't press for more, she just simply nodded.
Things became silent between the two, save for the hum of Ventress's saber. Neither the mercenary nor the assassin knew how to move forward from where they currently were, and they were both not even sure if they could move forward.
Naruto was thinking of what he could say to his partner now.
He couldn't figure out what was going through her head, nor could he figure out if he was actually convincing her or if he was just infuriating her. It could be said that he was doing the latter due to the crimson energy blade being held against his throat, but the former could also be said due to the fact that that said energy blade had stopped there.
However, no matter which one it was, the Mandalorian could see that he had hurt her by using her past against her in his argument and guilt had flooded his thoughts. He didn't feel regret because she was his partner, or that by doing so, it ended up backfiring. It was because it was something that people just didn't do.
Even so, he still needed to convince her, no matter the cost.
'For Rotta.' He mentally chanted.
Naruto took a breath to calm himself, then he spoke.
"Ventress, I'm sorry that I used that against you. More sorry than you'll ever know."
The woman in question had raised her head slightly to hear what her partner was saying, even if it was against her wishes.
She was slightly surprised at the fact that he was apologizing for the tactic that he had been using against her. Ventress would've assumed that he would've kept using it until she either agreed to his plan or until the Sith assassin cut him down.
The Mandalorian had paused his speech to breath a deep sigh, then continued.
"But tell me the truth here, can you honestly say that you're alright with the fact that you're possibly causing someone else the same kind of trauma that you did?"
It was that statement that brought on an emotion that the assassin hadn't expected to feel.
Shame.
The shame that the mercenary's words brought, something that she wasn't prepared for in the slightest, forced Ventress to direct her attention to the ground.
"No."
The words left her lips in a muttered form before she barely had time to realize what they meant. With her eyes widened in shock, Ventress felt the need to cover her traitorous mouth in fear of it working against her. However, before she could, the one person she wished wouldn't hear that raised his right brow in questioning, yet still somehow knowingly.
"What was that?" Naruto asked cautiously.
Ventress knew that she would regret it, it wasn't even close. Nonetheless, she answered him.
"I said no, damn you!" She replied in a harsh whisper.
She hated to admit that what the whiskered mercenary said was true, for she knew what it would mean about her.
The Mandalorian knew it too, for what he spoke next shook Ventress to the core.
"Then how can you do this? How can you justify lowering yourself to the same level as whatever piece of scum took you from your home?"
What Naruto had suspected of her finally came into the form of words and stung the Sith assassin's heart.
She had actually recoiled when he finished speaking as one would have if he or she had been physically struck. Though, with what was said and what it meant to her, she might as well have been.
Naruto saw the reaction and played damage control while continuing his point.
"I'm sorry Ventress, but it's true and you know it."
That was what got to her the most in their entire conversation so far. Not the pain in discomfort in her head, not the fact that the mercenary had shared his traitorous thoughts with her, but the fact that what he had just said…the statement that he made…
It was true.
All of it was true, and it tore through her in ways that she couldn't explain.
The Sith assassin was doing the same thing to someone else even though she had sworn that she wouldn't on the Barge back on Tatooine. Ventress had broken her promise. She was just like the one who…the one…who…
The pain that had entered her head when the whiskered mercenary had confronted her on her past returned, only this time it was multiplied tenfold. It hurt her to the point where the saber in her hand was dropped to the ground so that she could hold her head with both hands to try and ease the pain, but it didn't work.
She groaned from the agony that existed within her mind. Ventress tried to take a step backwards, only for her foot to trip over something, making her almost fall to the ground.
The reason for the word 'almost' being used in the previous sentence was slightly surprising. Just as gravity began to take its effect on her unbalanced stature, two arms wrapped around Ventress's form and kept her from falling.
Naruto had no idea of what to make about the situation he was in.
For some reason, Ventress had dropped her saber to the ground, subsequently freeing him to do whatever he pleased without the threat of being cut to pieces. However, before he could even begin to think of what to do with that freedom, he saw what made Ventress drop her weapon in the first place.
The assassin had her head clenched with both hands and seemed to be in some type of pain if the expression on her face was anything to go by.
Ventress's expression seemed to get worse and worse as the seconds went by, meaning that whatever she was experiencing was getting worse as well. Just as the Mandalorian was about to ask her what was wrong, the woman in question took a step backwards and ended up tripping over her own feet.
The whiskered mercenary wasn't sure what made him do what he did, instincts if he had to guess, but before he even realized it, Naruto had run over to Ventress and caught her before she fell.
If the apprentice of Dooku had noticed what the mercenary had done for her, she didn't seem to notice. The Sith assassin's condition seemed to worsen by the moment, making her unaware of what was happening around her.
"Ventress, can you hear me? What's wrong?" He asked the woman in his arms, trying to steady her.
She didn't listen to what he had to say, and began thrashing around in his arms, trying to make them lose their grip on her.
Naruto tried his best to hold on to his grip on her arms. If it were just about what was happening to her, the Mandalorian might have been inclined to comply with Ventress's wishes, but it wasn't just about that.
The Republic forces were still below them, and for all he knew, if he let her go, the state Ventress was in could attract their attention.
While the mercenary continues with the physical struggle with Ventress, the woman in question was dealing with the mental struggle in her mind.
There was a storm raging in then woman's psyche, and amidst the storm, voices from her past and present alike echoed within her mind.
'He said that she could bring nothing from her life here with her.'
'You make me so proud, Ventress.'
'If I'm right, that means you're pretty much helping Dooku do the exact same thing to someone else.'
Ventress could feel more coming. Not just from the memories she had already unlocked, but also from ones she hadn't. The assassin knew that they weren't just going to be one after another, but instead she was about to receive it all at the same time.
Along with the hurting sensation that it took to get to them.
Panic began to spread in the assassin's disoriented thoughts.
Just accessing the single memory on the Barge alone made her mind feel like it was going to tear itself in half, and the small amount she had recalled previously felt about a fourth of the Barge memory's pain.
If each one of the memories she was about to receive were just as painful, if not more, as the first Barge memory, then that could destroy her mind!
The avalanche of her past was growing closer and closer, meaning that Ventress was running out of time.
She didn't know what to do!
A million and one thoughts ran through her mind, each of them leaving just as fast as they came.
Just as all seemed lost and the tidal wave of recollection was about to hit, something happened.
Inside of the emotional, mental, and moral war in Ventress's head, one thought rang out loudest out of all of them. It was a thought that the assassin had never guessed that she would ever have, nor was it a thought that she would guess that she would actually want.
'Light. Dark. I need you.'
Those words seemed to echo out to every nook and cranny of her mind, and what happened next surprised her.
All of the pain in her head, the anguish in her heart, and the torture in her soul seemed to abruptly come to an end. The memories stopped in their place and seemed to retreat back to wherever her mind had them stored.
Two familiar presences took root within her mind, and a familiar voice rang out in her mind.
'You called, child?' Light asked.
The assassin was shocked beyond all belief at how suddenly the peace in her mind was reestablished. It was jarring how suddenly calm everything was after such a moment of chaos.
For a few seconds, she did nothing but stay perfectly still while her mind tried to wrap around the thought of what had transpired. Eventually, Ventress managed to gain the courage to ask the question.
'W-What-' She mentally stuttered, at a loss for words even inside her own head.
'Worry about that later,' Dark stated, cutting her off from getting past one word in her question, 'You have other business at the moment.'
It was then that Ventress finally registered the arms that were keeping her from falling. She looked up, and that was when stern cerulean met concerned sapphire.
Naruto could now officially say that he was clueless to what was going on with his partner. After he had grabbed Ventress to keep her steady, she tried to break out of his grip. Then she suddenly stopped moving, and when he says stopped, he meant stopped.
She had become as still and stiff as a statue during those few seconds, and although he wouldn't admit it, Naruto was slightly scared of what it could mean. It was only after he started considering calling a medic, not even sure they would be able to help, that Ventress began moving again.
First, she looked to her left, then to her right, as if she were getting her bearings together. After that, the assassin seemed to notice the mercenary's hands and their hold on her biceps.
Ventress looked up from her position and met his eyes. Naruto could immediately tell that she was back to her old self, if the cold glare and gritted teeth were anything to go by.
The two of them were silent for a few seconds, until the Mandalorian finally gained the courage to speak up.
"Are you alright?" He asked with concern and caution.
Ventress's reaction to the question was not what he was expecting.
She had chuckled.
The whiskered mercenary had expected an insult, or for her to brush him off coldly, but definitely not that. Granted, it was a rueful chuckle, but it didn't make it any less surprising.
After what the assassin had just gone through, and what they were still going, the mercenary's question seemed to tickle some sick sense of humor within her, causing her to laugh.
A part of her was hateful over the lack of self-control, but it was overpowered by Ventress's reasoning for the laughter.
After everything that she had just experienced in the past few minutes, the Sith assassin felt like she was owed a moment or two to let out some emotion. What other emotion could she feel when the person who just caused the previously mentioned experience just asked such a foolish question as if she was okay?
She had just listened to him use her past against her and heard his thoughts of betrayal out loud, with the former causing something to happen in Ventress's mind that she couldn't fully explain yet. It was safe to say that she definitely wasn't in a state to say she way 'okay.'
If he was simple minded enough to ask that question, then Ventress knew that her Mandalorian partner was either a true fool, or he was a very unique individual.
'I say fool.' Dark stated in an annoyed tone.
For some reason or another, Ventress could feel Dark's opposite half roll her eyes before giving her own answer.
'I say that he's a person who's genuinely concerned about you.' Light replied.
The assassin didn't care much for their opinions at the moment, for she was too wrapped up in her mirth. Once her laughter ended, the Sith assassin returned to her callous and cold demeanor like it was her default state of being.
Her Mandalorian partner was somewhat unnerved by the almost robotic change in personality Ventress went through. He was going to comment on that, but before he got a word out, the Sith assassin wrapped her hands around his wrists and forcibly removed them.
The mercenary offered little resistance against the action and even took a step or two back to give his partner some space.
Silence once again ruled the dominion of sound between the assassin and mercenary, a trend that seems to be a continuing one between the two.
Well, it would be more accurate to say that Naruto was the one trapped in silence, for Ventress was currently in a conversation with the voices in her head.
'The mercenary must die for his actions.' Dark stated with an air of finality.
Ventress felt herself agree with that sentiment somewhat, but it wasn't long after Dark's vote that Light made her argument.
'What he says is true, though!' She objected, 'Ventress, you of all people know what a situation like this can do to a child.'
The Sith assassin saw her point.
The person she was, the person she had become, Ventress knew that if things had turned out differently on that one fateful day, then it was almost guaranteed that she would not have turned out the way she had, in both personality and mental state.
The memories she had. The things she had experienced. There was a reason for all of them to be suppressed.
More importantly, there was a reason why her mind didn't want her to remember.
What had happened to Ventress before was clearly affecting her in the now, and it definitely wasn't for the better. Could she truly do that to another person? Make them hurt the way she had been?
Before that line of thinking could be explored any more, Dark intervened.
'The Huttlet's situation and Ventress's are only the same on the fine print. Everything else is completely different.'
That fact stuck with Ventress more so than it should have.
Jabba's son actually had a chance to go back home to his friends and family, people who actually care about him.
But for her? She didn't even know if those that cared for her were even still alive.
Ventress was too young to know, or at least remember, what planet she came from when she was…taken.
Of course, as she got older, Ventress grew curious about who she was and tried to find out.
From her own searches about what she truly was, Ventress's best guess could only be Rattataki, since that was the species that she shared the most details with. There were flaws in that reasoning, such as the fact that Rattataki couldn't grow hair, and Ventress could. For her own sake, Ventress deduced that she could be a half breed instead and gained the hair traits from the species that wasn't Rattataki.
That was, until the vision on the Barge came into play.
The people she saw in her vision shared the same traits as her and the fact that one of them was supposedly her mother sent the assassin for a tailspin about who she was.
If she wasn't Rattataki, then what was she?
The assassin reminded herself to get back on track about the situation at hand.
The facts were that she didn't know if there was someone who still cared about her, but she did know that someone cared about Rotta and would provide for him when this was all over.
The facts also stated that what Naruto had proposed to her was treason.
And treason was punishable by death.
'But-' Light began to argue.
Dark interrupted before she could even get the second word out.
'There are no buts, sister! Knowing his thoughts, he more than likely already put his plan into motion when he was in the dungeon.'
Storing away the fact that Dark called Light 'sister' for later, Ventress thought about what he said.
Knowing Naruto's character thus far, it was safe to say that Dark's hypothesis could be correct, but whether or not it was true didn't matter since Naruto had already revealed his treasonous thoughts.
It was clear what she had to do now.
During Ventress's entire mental conversation, Naruto had been standing off to the side in silence. He watched as his partner appeared to be deep in thought and wondered what to do.
A question had been haunting his thoughts ever since her silence began, and he was trying to gather the will to ask it.
The reason behind whether or not the whiskered mercenary should ask the question was also the reason for the question itself.
When he had been trying to convince her to help, it seemed like Ventress was on the verge of mental collapse. Naruto wanted to know what was going on with her and why, but he also wanted to give her the time and space to recover from whatever she just went through before even beginning to question her.
After a few more seconds of patient silence, the Mandalorian willed himself to speak.
"What just happened to you?" He asked.
That question seemed to knock Ventress away from her thoughts.
A cold glare set itself in her features as she stared at him with her piercing eyes. For a moment, Naruto had to resist the urge to shiver when he saw it. His attention was then drawn back on the Sith assassin when she turned away from him.
"Nothing that you will ever concern yourself with…" She answered, reaching down for something on her belt that Naruto couldn't see.
The whiskered mercenary gained a look of confusion at Ventress's action before remembering what the only thing she had attached to her waist was.
'Oh shit!' He mentally yelled when he realized what Ventress was about to do.
"You traitor!"
Ventress whipped her right arm back horizontally towards Naruto, with her unclipped weapon in her grip.
SNAP! HISS!
The blade activated midway through her swing, but the intended target of the energy blade was already prepared to counter.
Naruto crouched down, causing the lightsaber to swing over his head. He then grabbed the wrist of the arm that held the saber. With the wrist in his grasp, the Mandalorian slid around Ventress, causing her to become unbalanced due to her arm being yanked.
Once the Mandalorian was directly behind her, he quickly stood himself up and pinned the assassin's arm behind her back, minding the saber of course.
With that done, he then pushed the assassin towards the wall furthest from the balcony so that the Republic wouldn't see the glowing red sword from where they were. He forced up Ventress against and spoke while trying to keep a grip on her.
"Can we just talk about this?" He asked/begged the Sith apprentice.
Part of him still believed that she could help him in his plan. It was a small part, obviously, and it was growing smaller by the minute. It didn't change the fact that it was still there, though.
Ventress struggled to get out of his grip, being pressed against the wall wasn't making it any easier. It was then that she felt Light and Dark stir in her mind.
'He still wants your help child. There's still a chance-'
Light was then cut off by Dark.
'To manipulate and deceive her for his own gain!'
She ignored the two of them and replied to the Mandalorian.
"No! You don't get to speak another word!"
It was his 'talking' that led to everything that has been happening to her, and Ventress wouldn't stand for it anymore.
Using whatever amount of movement she could muster in her pinned wrist, the assassin deactivated her weapon and then tossed it in the air. The assassin then reached out her left hand and called on the Force to pull the lightsaber into her grip again.
The weapon shot into the palm of her free hand, and Ventress went to work.
She turned the saber on and, using the freedom of her left arm that her right no longer had, swung its blood red blade towards the mercenary.
What the assassin forgot was that Naruto also had a free hand, and when he saw the weapon coming towards him, the Mandalorian shot his hand out and grabbed the area where Ventress's wrist met her hand.
That stopped the attack dead in its tracks and prevented any sort of attempt to maneuver the blade to graze against him.
The mercenary tightened his grip, causing Ventress to drop the device to the ground, effectively disarming her.
The assassin cursed mentally at the loss of her weapon and thought that the next best course of action was to get out of the hold she was in.
After a moment of struggle, Ventress managed to get one of her legs to wedge between her and the wall she was pressed against. She used all her strength to push her foot against the wall, and to her delight, Dooku's apprentice felt the man holding her take a few stumbling steps back.
Unfortunately, since she was pushing against the wall, that meant that the assassin was also leaning against Naruto as leverage.
That meant that when the mercenary was forced to move back, and ultimately fall backwards, Ventress went along for the ride as well.
The leader of the Shadows fell on his back with an oof, and then felt the air get knocked out of his lungs when Ventress landed on top of him.
While Naruto was disoriented from the fall, Ventress was not. She rolled backwards and over Naruto by proxy and stood herself up. Spotting the dropped lightsaber from seconds ago, the Sith assassin once again used the Force to pull it into her grip.
The blade sprang to life once again, and Dooku's apprentice brought the saber down on the person laying below her.
Naruto saw the attack coming. How could he not notice a red blade of pure energy coming towards him with the intent on ending his life?
His hands instantly went to his belt to grab the only thing that could save his life, and things seemed to move in slow motion as the race between Naruto's hands and Ventress's attack raged on.
FWAASH!
The whiskered mercenary's unique lightsaber sprang to life just in time to intercept Ventress's attack. As the sabers connected, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief while Ventress was shocked by the sudden interruption of the attack.
The shock was what the Mandalorian needed to successfully shove Ventress away from his person, which allowed him to kick himself up to his feet.
His opponent rushed towards him, and red and orange sabers clashed violently, creating a spectacle of white light where the two weapons of solid light grinded against one another in a battle of dominance. The wielders of the weapons were evenly matched in the lock, making it impossible for one to overcome the other.
Ventress knew this, so she went to tip the scales in her favor. Balling up her free hand into a fist, the assassin threw a punch directly aimed at Naruto's whiskered cheek. Due to their close proximity, the Mandalorian was unable to register the punch in time to defend against it, so the attack landed its mark.
Naruto's head jerked back due to the attack, and as the pain spread across his cheek, an idea for retaliation went through his mind. Just as Ventress's fist started to retract from the punch, the whiskered mercenary's own free hand shot out and wrapped its fingers around her wrist. Naruto pulled the wrist towards him, and the rest of the assassin followed by proxy. Just as Ventress began to trip over herself due to the sudden pull, the Mandalorian leaned his head back and shot it forward, colliding with Ventress's own head.
Pain echoed through both of their skulls, and while Naruto's pain shouldn't have been as great as Ventress's since he was the one who initiated the headbutt, his previous head injury caused the two to equal in head pain. Since they were equal, the headbutt was enough to make him take an involuntary step backwards just like Dooku's apprentice had.
Both of them involuntarily rubbed their foreheads in order to sooth the ache in their craniums, momentarily pausing their combat.
Once that moment had passed, Naruto and Ventress took a moment to stare each other down. Neither of them said a word, for no longer could words be said. Instead, they simply took their stances.
The two of them never broke their eye contact during that time, so it was noticeable when Ventress saw Naruto look past her and focus on something else.
For some reason, Ventress dared to follow his sight and look behind her, and what she saw made her sneer with victory and cruel excitement. Laying just a few feet behind the assassin was her other lightsaber, the one she had dropped when she had the mental disturbance.
Naruto knew that he was in for a challenge when it came to having to fight Ventress, even if she had only one lightsaber, so imagine how anxious he felt when he saw the assassin's other weapon on the ground a little bit away from her. Then multiply that feeling times ten when Dooku's apprentice followed his line of sight and saw her weapon as well.
Ventress with one saber had been manageable, but with both of them in her grasp made Naruto's chances of victory decrease exponentially. So, when he saw the Sith assassin starting to pull her other weapon towards her with those telekinetic powers of hers, the Mandalorian made it his top priority to stop her beforehand.
Naruto ran towards her with all the speed he could muster while his saber prepared to strike.
Ventress saw the mercenary's rush and followed suit, sacrificing the lesser amount of time the saber would reach her while gaining the advantage of giving him less time to plan accordingly.
When the two were in reach of each other, Ventress was the first to attack.
She swung the saber in left hand in the form of an overhead strike while her right hand was held out to catch her other weapon.
The Mandalorian easily intercepted the strike with his saber and freed one of his hands to reach for one of the blasters attached to his thigh. As soon as it was in his hand, the whiskered mercenary pulled the blaster out from its holster and thrusted it forwards, intent on getting as close as he could to the apprentice of Dooku so that there was less of a chance he would miss.
At the same time, the Sith assassin felt the familiar handle of her weapon reenter her grasp and almost immediately aimed its barrel, the area where the energy blade usually emerges from, at the Mandalorian the best she could in the short amount of time given.
SNAP! HISS!
Ventress ignited the blade, and Naruto's finger went to the trigger.
The leader of the Shadows felt the heat of the apprentice of Dooku's saber held just centimeters away from where his jaw met his neck, and the assassin felt the barrel of the mercenary's WESTAR-35 dig its way in the underside of her own jaw.
Both the assassin and mercenary froze when they realized their situation.
Essentially, Ventress couldn't kill the mercenary fast enough where he wouldn't get a shot off, and Naruto couldn't get a shot off without the assassin separating his head from his body.
They were in a full-blown stalemate.
Neither made a move out of the fear that the other would end their life. So, with nothing else that they could do, Naruto and Ventress just glared daggers at each other.
Seconds that felt like hours passed and a deafening silence encompassed them, all while the two stayed in their positions like statues.
After a full minute of this, one of them finally decided to speak.
"So, where do we go from here?" Naruto asked sarcastically.
So, what do you guys think about what's happening?
Before anyone mentions it, yes, I know that the episode that Ventress just had was a very large helping of OOC. In fact, it was one of the hardest parts to write in this chapter. However, there will be an in-story explanation for that and for her sudden change in character during that time.
Keep in mind that this is a preview and not a full chapter.
Remember to review and give constructive criticism. Blades out.