Hey everybody! How you doing? Well, I have been planning out where to go with this story in my free time, and I must say, I think I have the best ending for this particular story that you could ever possibly read. But of course, that's several chapters down the road. Without further ado, here is chapter 13 of Under the Stars.
Previously…
Turning to the medical droid, he ordered, "I want you to replace his eyes with cybernetics. Also, get a sample of his blood and figure out what his disease is; cure it if it's possible." As the droid left to get the necessary supplies he turned back to last Uchiha. "Welcome to the Clone Wars, Itachi."
"Itachi? Itachi, open your eyes."
"Why?" the man groaned, rolling onto his side. All he felt was an aching soreness throughout his body, and all he saw was darkness. "Why even bother? I'm blind, Naruto. Blind."
"Open your eyes, Itachi," the Jedi repeated, his voice firm now. Sighing, he did so, and to his surprise, he saw. Seeing the white cloth over his eyes, he quickly tore it off, squinting as light poured into his eyes. He lay on a medical bed, dressed in light blue scrubs, while Naruto, Gaara, and the strange girl who had helped him fight the monstrosity in the coliseum stood around him.
"How is this possible?" Itachi asked, his voice shaky. He felt the area around his eyes, and his fingers touched cold metal. His hands began shaking, and a look of sorrow flitted across Naruto's features as the Uchiha grabbed a mirror lying on the table beside him. Seeing his reflection in the mirror, he almost dropped the glass in surprise. In the place of his blind eyes, two prosthetics rested in the sockets. The eyes looked like an exact copy of his Mangekyo Sharingan. Metal fittings were in place to hold the eyes in place, and a small button rested on the outside corner of each. Pressing the buttons, a shadowed lens like those on sunglasses ejected over his eyes, displaying massive amounts of random symbols. He reeled slightly from the sudden stream, before it cleared, displaying basic information. As he looked around, the HUD scanned a number of different items he cast his attention on, giving him various bits of information. In the top left corner, he saw a display of his chakra reserves, and he laughed, his lips curling into a smile.
"This is amazing!" he exclaimed, leaping up from the table. Naruto gave a relieved grin, and Itachi swept the young Jedi up in a quick hug as thanks. "Thank you Naruto."
"It's nothing," Naruto said, scratching the back of his in embarrassment. "I had them give you advanced prosthetics because you'll no longer be able to use your Sharingan. Hopefully the Heads-Up Display will compensate. I also had them do some blood work on you, and we had a stroke of luck; you were suffering from a very slow strain of the Blue Shadow Virus. Using the data from the recent synthesized cure, we have managed to cure you of your illness."
"You did all of this for a man you believed to be a murderer until five minutes before you ordered the operation?" A grin split both men's features, before Naruto cracked his neck, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
"Try to get some rest, Itachi. You'll be feeling a bit of pain in a little while, and you'll still have to get used to the implants. Besides, after my battles, I'm going to need some rest myself." Leaving the med bay, Naruto began working his way through the maze of hallways back to his room. Upon finally making it his room, he saw Ara and the madclaw standing on either side of his door. "Something I can do for you two?" he asked, his eyes flicking to the blasters holstered on Ara's hips.
You saved our lives, and we are in your debt, the madclaw said. Surprise flitted across Naruto's face, both from the Wookiee's words and the fact that he now understood them. Attributing his new knowledge of Shyriiwook to Darth Maul's memories, he listened as the Wookiee continued. My honor, even as an outcast, as a Nameless, demands that I help you. You have defeated me in single combat, and thus you have my respect; now that you have saved my life, I will serve you, even if it costs me mine.
If you will serve me, you will be named. You are Senshi, which on my planet means Warrior. Switching back to Basic, he addressed the Twi'lek. "Ara, if you choose to serve me, your tasks will not be glamorous; if I have need of a soldier in battle, you will fight. If I have need of an assistant, you will do whatever job I give you, no matter how demeaning. If you serve me, you report to me or Itachi, and only the two of us. There are secrets about our people and us that no one can know. Is this clear?" She chuckled slightly as she nodded, and he sighed. "Alright. Ara, I want you to walk around, familiarize yourself with the ship. Talk to my friends, talk to the soldiers, and get to know everything and everyone you can. Senshi, you can guard my room for tonight; tomorrow, I want you two to switch duties." After hearing their various affirmatives, he flopped down onto his bed, asleep before his head hit the pillow.
Ahsoka lay on the bed in her room of the ship, hugging her pillow to her chest as tears ran down her face. After not seeing Naruto for months on end, and after nearly losing him twice in a matter of days, he had barely spoken to her, barely even glanced at her, even as she dragged him out of that cave. When finally he had spoken to her, it wasn't as much to her as to everyone present. She had tried to find him after he spoke to Itachi, but he had disappeared so quickly, she was sure he was avoiding her. Hugging the pillow closer to her chest, she slowly cried herself to sleep.
"Naruto?" a deep voice echoed through his dreams. "Wake up. Wake, and answer me. Why have you stolen me, Naruto?" A red-skinned Zabrak flitted across his vision, yellow teeth bared in a snarl that bent and twisted black tattoos. "You will never escape me, Naruto."
"Wake up, Naruto," a young girl repeated, and he shifted in his bed, his features scrunching up. A girlish giggle traced across his dreams, and he tried to block out the whispers lifting up; as he cast his gaze around, he found that he was unable to find the Kyuubi anywhere. There was a flash of light, and he was standing in the Dune Sea of Tattooine. Another flash and he stood in a swamp, swirling with mist and surrounded by the Dark Side.
Another flash, this one different, and he stood in a field of blooming sakura trees, Kyuubi sitting beside him. Breathe, Kyuubi told him, handing a steaming cup of tea. Naruto took a deep inhaled deeply, the scent comforting him. Your mind is still frayed, though not from your transformation alone. Having faced so much stress, killing your friend, and nearly dying has made you a bit jumpy.
"Then why the vision of Darth Maul?" Naruto asked, swirling the tea in the little cup as he looked around. The Kyuubi remained silent, and Naruto sighed. "I suppose our cooperation ends when death doesn't threaten us both." Standing, he began walking, trying to find his way back to consciousness.
My name isn't Kyuubi, you know, the fox stated, and he paused, turning to look at the Bijuu. My name is Kurama. And I will help you Naruto. I do not answer your question because I cannot. Darth Maul was before our time; he was an unknown entity who was destroyed before the Jedi learned anything about him. It could merely be that his presence in the Force, even after death, is rebelling to anyone possessing his DNA and his memories. That is all I can tell you, besides the fact that you should speak to Ahsoka as soon as you can. Your distraction has hurt her, and she needs your comfort.
"I will go to her, and I will think on what you've said," Naruto replied, and the field disappeared, leaving him in dreamless sleep.
Naruto woke slowly, blinking slightly as a chink of light fell across his face as the durasteel door slid open. A figure slipped into the room, before the door slid closed. A familiar scent suffused the room, and he gently reached out, grasping Ahsoka's hand. She knelt by his bed, dressed in a pair of silky shorts and a tank top. He ran his thumb across her cheeks, wiping away her tears. "My love," he whispered, gently kissing her eyelids. She began sobbing again, and he held her as she buried her head in his chest.
"When you were gone for so long, I worried that I had lost you, and I worried again when I found you dying in that cave. All I wanted was to hear you say those words to me, yet you remained silent to my presence; I was afraid you no longer loved me."
"For three months I suffered visions and memories of another's life; I had to fight to maintain my sanity. I then had to kill a man who used to be my best friend, and fought again for my life before you found me. My silence was not out of scorn, Ahsoka; I took care to make sure that I spoke as little as possible, that I may not betray us in my state." He gently pulled her up beside him on the bed, his hand resting on the curve of her hip. Softly kissing the nape of her neck, he pulled her even closer, pressing his abdomen against hers. She gasped softly, before she knotted her fingers in his hair, nervously chewing her lip. "Do you want to stop?" he asked softly, leaning back to look in her eyes. Seeing tenderness in the blue orbs, she shook her head, pulling her lover closer.
Taking care to be gentle, Naruto spent the first several minutes softly kissing the Togruta woman. His hands ran up and down her back underneath the shirt tracing little circles against her spine. After several minutes of kissing, Ahsoka wriggled against him for a moment, until she managed to remove her shirt, displaying herself to him. His eyes flicked down, taking in her figure, before he gently kissed her collarbone, followed by her breasts. She mewled softly as he gave them attention, before he moved to her abdomen. This time it was his turn to pause; wriggling out of sweatpants he had put on after he got out of the bacta tank, he tossed them in the corner, now totally naked. A second later, Ahsoka's shorts joined the pile, leaving them both equally unclothed. Climbing on top of her, he gently kissed the nape of her neck before pressing himself against her.
She nodded, and he thrust in with one swift motion.
Ahsoka whimpered in pain, burying her face in his shoulder and tightening their embrace, and he remained motionless, allowing her to adjust as he whispered softly in her ear. "I love you," he whispered over and over, allowing her to cry into his shoulder. The minutes creeped by, and she slowly relaxed, wrapping her arms softly around his neck. She nodded, and he set a soft pace, increasing his pace slightly as her whimpers turned into moans.
"Faster," she told him, and he obliged her, picking up the pace further until her mouth was open in a continuous, silent scream. Aware of the taboo of their act, both tried to remain as silent as possible; when the end finally came, Ahsoka sunk her Togruta fangs into his neck to silence her screams, and he did the same with his own. His vision flashed white, and he heard a noise unlike he had ever heard before; it was the roar of a waterfall, the soft tinkle of wind chimes; in a word, ecstasy. As the sound faded, so too did consciousness.
When he awoke hours later, he found Ahsoka snuggled into his chest, curled up and pressed as close to his warm body as she could get. Gently kissing her forehead, he smiled as she wriggled even closer to him, before relaxing again. He crawled gently over her, covering her with the blankets. Putting on his sweatpants, he sat at a small desk in the room, setting up a short stack of papers and grabbing a pen, before he began writing.
When Ahsoka awoke, she was slightly worried to find that Naruto was no longer in the bed, his body warming hers. She cast her gaze to the corner of the room, and saw that his sweatpants were gone, and her worry grew until she saw him asleep in the chair at his desk, sprawled over a stack of papers as he snored quietly. Smiling, she got up, holding the blanket to cover her nude form, before walking over next to him and looking at what he had written. It was a number of lines for a song, like the time after the spar between them and Gaara once they had made their own lightsabers. Turning her attention back to the song, she read the lyrics.
My head is stuck in the clouds,
She begs me to come down,
Says boy, quit fooling around.
I told her, I love the view from up here,
Warm sun, and wind in my ear,
We'll watch, the world, from above,
As it turns to the rhythm of love.
We may only have tonight,
But till the morning sun you're mine,
All mine,
Play the music low,
And sway to the rhythm of love.
She smiled, before kissing his whiskered cheek, giggling as said whiskers tickled her soft lips. She felt them slide across her lips, before his met hers. "You're mine," he whispered, pulling her onto his lap. There was a knock on the door, and they both froze for a moment, until Naruto quickly summoned her clothes to him. Handing her the garments, he shook his hands wildly through his hair to make it appear disheveled, taking care around his horns, and then rubbed his eyes until they were red and swollen. Checking to make sure Ahsoka was dressed, he opened the door, finding Anakin waiting on the other side.
"God, Naruto, you look horrible," Anakin said, gently grabbing the Padawan's chin and turning the boy's head so he could look at him from different angles. "Are you okay?" Noticing Ahsoka in the room, Anakin's eyebrows skyrocketed, before he crossed his arms and looked at Naruto, waiting for an explanation.
"The genetic experiments have been giving me nightmares, so Ahsoka slept in the top bunk to make sure I would be alright."
"And the smell in here? Anakin asked, crinkling his nose. Naruto casually reached for the trash bin next to his bed, and Kurama quickly cast a Genjutsu on it, making it appear to be filled with vomit. Anakin gagged slightly at the sight, before he nodded. "Alright. I just came to see how you were doing. I was a little… surprised… to see Ahsoka here, butI suppose I should give you a little more trust; after all, I'm sure that you guys wouldn't break that particular code," he said, turning to leave. Under his breath, he muttered, "Even if you do break most of the other ones."
The door slid shut, and Naruto sighed, visibly relaxing as Ahsoka collapsed bonelessly into the desk chair. "That was too close," she said, pressing a hand to her chest. "If we were caught, the Jedi would have exiled us from the Order." Naruto knelt down and surrounded her in a comforting embrace, and she sighed, resting her head against his broad shoulder for several minutes. "I'm sorry," she murmured, not removing her head. "We just did this amazing thing last night, and now I'm freaking out… I must be the worst girlfriend ever."
"I've never had a girlfriend before, Ahsoka," Naruto stated, lifting his chin with a finger, "but you are by far the best girlfriend I could possibly hope to find in all the planets in all the galaxies in the entire universe. Even if I had to leave my home planet for this relationship to occur, I would do it all again in a heartbeat." He kissed her for a long moment, before he stood. "Now go and get dressed in your compartment. When you're done, I want you to find Gaara and bring him to the main hangar; I'm going to modify my lightsabers, and I'll meet you there for a spar." She smiled and left, adding a little extra sway of her hips to please him, before the door slid closed.
He removed his dual sabers from the seals tattooed on his body. Harder to find now that the rest of my body is covered, he thought, setting them down. Pulling a calligraphy brush and pot of ink that had been left in the room in anticipation of his rescue, he dipped the brush in the ink, before hovering it over the base of each lightsaber. Kurama, could you help me?
What do you need? he asked, his voice slightly softer and more affectionate at the use of his name.
I want to create a seal on the base of my lightsabers so that they attract to each other and lock together, creating a saberstaff, but can later be unlocked. I would like to do this so that I am the only one who can use my lightsabers this way, such as if someone managed to disarm me and use the blades against me. Can you help me out with the seals? He felt rather than heard Kurama's acquiescence, before his hand began moving on its own, carefully and artfully writing the minute patterns along the designated spots. After a few minutes, the task was done, and he set the brush aside.
When you want to activate the seals, just press the bases together and twist; it will pull on a minute amount of my chakra to hold them together. The only way to break them apart is for you to release the jutsu with the usual word, Kai! Understand?
I understand, Kurama. And… thanks.
After thirty minutes, Ahsoka and Gaara stood waiting in the main hangar somewhat impatiently. A group of troopers who had been off-duty had been kind enough to move a number of the durasteel crates into a ring, in some places several crates high. They sat here and there, hoping to be able to see the spar that was to begin. Now the only thing delaying the spar was the one who had called for it.
Another moment later, Naruto appeared, dressed in the freshly cleaned robes he had worn in the coliseum, and dozens of eyes turned to watch as he strode quickly and surely toward his opponents. He attached the hilts of his lightsaber as he entered the ring, activating the saberstaff on stun. Twin emerald blades with over a meter reach each ejected from their various hilts, and without pausing he suddenly sped into a lightning-fast spin aimed at Gaara's neck.
The redhead's lightsaber was up instantly, blocking the strike, and Naruto rolled with the strength of the block, allowing Gaara's lightsaber to push his so that it spun and came in from the other side. Gaara ducked quickly under the whirring blade, and Naruto spun, locking with Ahsoka. He quickly rolled through a series of circular slashes; left shoulder to right midriff followed by a sweep for the legs. She managed to block the first with her shoto, intercepted the second with her primary, and flipped backward over the sweep. Naruto continued the motion, spinning his lightsaber over his head, before stepping back a pace and widening his stance, holding the blade horizontally out in his left arm, while bringing his right hand back to rest at the level of his waist. (AN: Think Darth Maul's ready stance when fighting Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan.)
Gaara launched forward, aiming a double-handed overhead strike on the conjunction of the two sabers, and Naruto spurred into the move that had killed Qui-Gon; a quick thrust with the hilt, catching Gaara's wrist with the cold metal; as Gaara's hands soared up, Naruto smashed him in the face, before modifying the move in one regard. Instead of running Gaara through at the end of the twist, he turned it into a spinning roundhouse, sending Gaara sprawling to the side, his lightsaber rolling out of the ring.
Whirling around, he jumped horizontally over Ahsoka's sweep for his legs, spinning his body and lightsaber to block the circular slash she turned the missed sweep into. He went with a basic 1-2-3-4 strike pattern; a slash to her left shoulder, right shoulder, left leg, right leg; as she blocked the last strike, he pushed hard against her block, spinning her body. As she came out of the spin, she tried for an overhead attack, and he employed the same stop he had used on Gaara. As her wrists met the cold steel, however, he continued his momentum, moving her arms so that they bend back behind her body, forcing her lightsaber behind her. Her body was surrounded by his, pressed against the hard wall of muscle that was the young Jedi. She put on the act of trying to break free from the position, but both were thinking the same thing; that this was the only possible way they could be this close, this intimate in public without them possibly being caught. A duel to them was no longer just two lightsabers clashing; it was as intimate as the act they had performed the night before.
Naruto broke the moment later when he said a word unfamiliar to her: "Kai." Suddenly, his arms both swept out towards his sides, and she thought bewilderedly for a moment that he had dropped his saberstaff, but instead she found him holding both lightsabers individually, melding seamlessly into Jar'Kai. He slashed against her torso – since the blade was on the practice stun setting, she received no worse than a shock – and used a simple Force Push to send her sliding across the floor of the hangar. The duel couldn't have lasted more than thirty seconds, but Ahsoka found that she was unsurprised with its outcome; Naruto had once again thoroughly trounced his friend, and his lover. He did a single Jar'Kai flourish, swinging the blades around his body, before he deactivated them.
He helped both Padawans back to their feet, and reattached the hilts, swinging the activated blade in an arc around his body. "Ready to go again?"
Well everybody, there you have it! Well, we finally have Naruto and Ahsoka's love scene (albeit a different one than their vision – that will come later) and we also have what I believe to be a kickass duel. Let me tell you, this particular duel was very tricky to write; the key was three hours spent searching and watching every Ray Park YouTube video I could find and watching them over and over. Also, caffeine. The sheer speed of the saberstaff made it very difficult to put into words the movements, so review and tell me how I did.
-Zeratide, out.