Hey everybody! Gonna cut the intro short here, and just say what you want to hear; here's Chapter 18 of Under the Stars
Previously…
"Ahsoka Tano, will you marry me?"
Gaara stood silently at the docks, observing the Jedi searching for any remainder of the ship Naruto had left on. "He came for Ahsoka," he murmured to himself, narrowing his eyes in thought. Naruto fought dozens of Jedi, but made sure not to actually kill any of them… he claims to the title of Sith, but he does very little that one would believe a Sith to do. Just what is he playing at? Hopping onto his nearby speeder bike, he took to the airlanes, the wind mussing his hair as he headed toward the underground.
An hour later, he sat in one of the dozens of seedy bars that dotted the underground. His cloak was pulled tight around him, and the hood was up, disguising his features from the patrons, though they recognized him for a Jedi. A Twi'lek barmaid set a drink in front of him, before walking away. "If you wanted to kill me, I'd recommend trying something other than poison," Gaara said as he drained the glass.
"Then I suppose that it's a good thing that was just a regular glass of your planet's sake," Aurra Sing said, sliding into the seat across from him. "Now, tell me who's to die."
Naruto lay on the hard durasteel floor inside the Slave's cell area, his clothes strewn here and there. Ahsoka rested her head on his chest in sleep, and he gently stroked her bare skin, from shoulder to thigh. The familiar hiss of a sliding door sounded, and he turned to see Arana'samura limp through, a teasing grin flitting across her lips as she took in the sight before her. "Looks like I'm too late to the party, eh stud?" she teased as Naruto slowly extricated himself from the sleeping Togrutan's arms, grabbing his clothes.
"If you wanna try and convince her to let you join, feel free," Naruto said as he pulled on his pants. "Just don't come crying to me when her lightsaber burns through your spleen." Ara grinned, before leaning against the wall and watching as he continued to dress.
"Mmm… that girl know what she got? I see some damn fine muscle there, and that rod I saw before was pretty fine too." Naruto rolled his eyes, cracking his knuckles once he was dressed.
"You are insufferable," Naruto said as he followed her to the cockpit. "Geez, I'm gonna have to find you a man on Kironia."
"A nice strong one will do," Ara said as they sat down. "Young, energetic…" she trailed off, leaning close and breathing lightly on his neck, laughing when he blushed. "Anyway, we're approaching your home planet now, and I thought you would like to watch the descent." Naruto sunk into his chair, quietly observing the ship's exit from hyperspace, bringing the multi-colored orb that was his planet into view. Naruto tapped his fingers on the arm of his seat, nerves suddenly filling him.
I have to try and make arrangements for Ahsoka, he thought to himself as they moved closer and closer to Kironia. If her presence becomes public, then the Jedi will know something's wrong. They'll figure out that Ahsoka and I are lovers, and they'll expel her from the Order, plus the Kironian Council will take a negative view on relations with the enemy… For the hundredth time in the past few days he wondered just what he had gotten himself into. A Sith to bring the full fury of the Jedi onto me, and me alone… A Sith to save my home. God, this is going to be hard. The last time I fought for my home had me fight another of my friends as well, but never did I fight against people who had such faith in me, who bore me such love, or as close as the Jedi would call it.
You will fight them regardless of your feelings, Kurama groaned from his mind. Narrowing his eyes in concern, Naruto dove into the depths of the place he had created for Kurama.
To his amazement, the bright, warm home he had made for the Bijuu had turned into a dim dungeon-like cell, where Kurama huddled in a corner, shivering. His once-white robes were gone, replaced by the flanged armor he had worn when he fought Naruto in the Trial of the Spirit; Naruto's eyes traced the pair of black pants covered by a kama like Rex's, the forearm-length gauntlets, boots, and chest plate of segmented black beskar. He wore the three-pronged lightsaber clipped at his belt, and his skin was pale, the lightning scars seeming to shiver as he did.
Already the Dark Side is placing its hold on me again. Gahk! He gasped, his throat jerking. It burns! Naruto watched quietly as Kurama's claws dug into his arm, slicing a long trail in the biceps. Black blood flowed down his arms, and Kurama growled, his pupils dilating as if he were on Death Sticks. Kurama snapped his jaws at Naruto, his black-and-red, mane-like hair falling wildly across his face. One monstrous Naruto looked at the other, and Kurama panted deeply, trying to resist. Leaping to his feet, he slammed into the bars, reaching through and grabbing the collar of Naruto's robes. I had peace, he said, breathing heavily. I can't resist, Naruto. Please, help me!
There is nothing I can do, Naruto said mournfully, reaching through and gently placing a hand on Kurama's shoulder. If I'm to try and save everyone, then I have to do this. I never thought that it would affect you, though.
BECAUSE YOU DO NOT THINK! Kurama roared, pulling Naruto flush against the bars. A thousand lifetimes of fury and rage, hatred powerful enough to raze mountains, and just after I feel the slightest taste of peace you curse me again with the rage! Kurama tore at Naruto's throat with his claws, but Naruto managed to twist out of his grasp, backpedaling away from the bars of the cell. I have no outlet, no body of my own. I burn... I need blood, fire, death… Kurama shivered once again, curling into the fetal position and rocking. Relief… I need relief, release me! Release me!
I cannot!
THEN KILL ME!
No, Naruto said, shaking his head. I… I can find some way to sate your thirst. Perhaps… perhaps if I allowed you control during battle?
Understand that I would offer no mercy to anyone I faced, not even Ahsoka.
Then I can't let you loose in that scenario, Naruto replied, rubbing his chin. I'll figure something out. Just wait a little longer.
Gaara flew through the battle just outside of Coruscant's atmosphere. His personal starfighter swerved through clusters of droids, ships, and laser fire as he tracked the light, fast carrier Grievous was on, with the Chancellor as his prisoner. Just reconnaissance, he told himself. Leave the best to rescue him, just mark the ship and get out. You're a ninja, Gaara, this is the kind of thing you grew up doing. He spun to the right as he moved around a detonation charge, accelerating at just the right moment to escape the charge himself, but catch the droids on his tail in the blast and destroy them. Screw Anakin, I'm the best pilot in the Order. Bringing the ship into a corkscrew as a passing vulture droid fired at him, he dodged the blasts until he was behind the remains of a small transporter. Straining with the controls, he managed to make the fighter turn around almost on a dime and fired a single shot at just the right time, the bolt flying through a small gap in the wreckage and hitting the droid directly in the head. He cheered when it exploded.
As ordered, he marked the ship Dooku's transport landed in, before turning around and quickly hightailing back to Coruscant's surface. Gotta prepare for my mission to Kironia, he thought to himself as he entered the atmosphere. Master Windu had told him the day after Naruto kidnapped Ahsoka to prepare a Destroyer's worth of troops and ship out for Kironia.
"On such short notice, we can't arrange for more than that," Windu had said in the Council chambers. "You will be the spearhead of our campaign. I want you to act as an envoy first; fly down to this Republic City and see if you can't negotiate a way to keep the battle from occurring. The massacre of an entire people is not something I want to cause if I can help it. If they decline, bring your full force down and attack. I trust you to know your planet well enough to know where to fight, and who is innocent. Kill only soldiers, not civilians."
"It will be done, Master." Those were the words Naruto would have said; instead, he merely nodded, his eyes shadowed with the pain of the reality of his homecoming. Not a hero, but an invading foe. And furthermore, the promise I must keep for Naruto.
"Gaara," Naruto had said to him when they were alone. It was shortly after Naruto's promotion to the rank of Knight. The young man was still becoming accustomed to his new body, his eyes oft shadowed with the memories of what had happened in the arena. "When I was undergoing the experiments, I nearly went over to the Dark Side. Again when I fought Sasuke." Naruto took a deep breath, gazing deeply into his silent friend's eyes. "I want you to promise me something."
"What would you have of me?" Gaara asked, tilting his head to the side in curiosity. Naruto paused, seeming to struggle with his words, before managing to get them out.
"If I ever go to the Dark Side… become a Sith… I want you to kill me."
Gaara had been stunned at the words, and he floundered for something to say, but he couldn't speak. "I want you to do it as an act of mercy," the silver-blond man had said. "If I become a Sith, then I will destroy everything and everyone I ever loved. You are to be my assurance, Gaara. You are to be my friend, and if need be, my assassin. Promise me."
"What about Ahsoka?" he had asked, trying to find some way to get the Knight to stop talking about the subject. A pained expression had flitted across Naruto's face then, but he had been resolute in his response to that as well.
"You would have to look after her. Be her friend. Above all, you would need to make sure that no word of the relationship she and I share would ever reach the Council. Promise me, Gaara."
"I… I promise."
Look at me now, he thought as he landed the inside the Destroyer being prepared for Kironia. I couldn't even kill him by my own hand; I hired Aurra Sing to bear my shame. And when I go to Kironia, I will be labeled traitor, turncloak, Kinslayer. Looking around at the men who were his to command, he almost flinched as he saw the explosives, the rocket launchers, the assault vehicles.
I am doing what I vowed to do, it is true… so why does it feel so dishonorable?
Naruto strode silently behind the jailer as the man escorted him deeper and deeper into the maximum-security prison. Even with electric lighting on every floor, the deeper they went the darker it seemed, both figuratively and literally. He heard madmen whispering gibberish to themselves, and saw a few rapists eyeing everyone who walked by. "The lowest floor is where we toss the worst lot," the jailer told him. "There are no cells, just one large cavern. We would execute them, but they're too dangerous to get near enough to bring them to the execution chamber. We do it this way in the hope that they'll just kill each other off."
"I would enter the chamber myself," Naruto murmured, and the man looked at him as though he were one of the madmen above. He refrained from voicing such comments, however, and led him to the door. Opening the door, he ushered Naruto in. The door closed behind, and Naruto saw a durasteel door in front of him. After a few seconds, it slid open, and he went forward until he found a metal grate in front of him. After a few seconds, that slid open too, and the last door opened before he even reached it, leading into the cavern.
It was a large, hollow dome of rock and dirt, but there was no darkness anywhere. Stone pillars shot from the floor to the ceiling, covered completely in bio-luminescent moss that lit every corner of the room. Naruto counted over one hundred men everywhere, gazing at him hungrily, brandishing the crude stone weapons they had managed to make out of fallen rock. Have your fill of blood, Naruto told the Kyuubi, but leave enough alive that you will be able to slaughter later on. He heard a feral roar issue forth from his own throat before darkness consumed him.
He awoke sometime later to the thick, cloying scent of blood and burned flesh. Twenty men lay dying, missing limbs or organs, many of their throats torn out. Ten charred, unrecognizable corpses lay in random position, and a dozen corpses, brutalized as though by an animal, hung suspended in the air by some unseen force. But not the Force, Naruto thought to himself. The other prisoners cowered as far away from him as they could, unable to hide themselves, or the fear present in every aspect of their being. For a few moments, Naruto felt drunk on power.
Fear is my ally, he thought. He breathed deeply, shuddering in an almost pleasurable manner. Turning on his heel, he strode to the series of doors, activating his comlink and telling the man to let him out. The doors opened and closed behind him, until finally he was standing under the artificial light, the jailer gawking at his blood-soaked raiment. "Forty-two of your prisoners will not pose a threat anymore, nor will you need to worry about their sentence," Naruto said, casually wiping his red-dyed, fang-length canine teeth. "Furthermore, no one is to know of my activities here. Is that understood?"
"Y-yes, Lord Kurama!" the man squeaked, and Naruto strode out, into the light of day. Rolling his neck, Naruto hopped onto his speeder bike, zipping around the city until the sun began to set. Once he was done, he returned to the Senate building. A quick elevator ride had him to his penthouse apartment, where he opened the door to find Ahsoka resting on the couch.
"A large crate came for you," she told him as she watched a holovid. "That Hokage lady, Tsunade, brought it here. She said that it was something found in your parent's estate that you might want to have." Striding silently over to the crate, he cracked it open with a bare hand before he reached in, pulling out the items inside.
In his hand he held a piece of segmented black beskar, molded into a flexible, flanged pauldron to rest on his shoulder. Within was the rest of the armor Kurama had worn, the infamous armor of his visions; black pants covered by an armored, studded kama; the forearm-length gauntlets; the black combat boots; the chest plate of segmented black beskar. Transferring everything onto a mannequin in the main room, he then strode to the bathroom to clean up before Ahsoka actually paid attention to his appearance and saw all of the blood. The water was hot, and laced with steam, and he took comfort in the flow that made all of the tension melt from his muscles.
He exited the bathroom silently, a towel wrapped around his waist as he went to the living room. Ahsoka, as a result of relaxation, had dressed rather liberally; she wore no undergarments, only a grey silk robe that clung to her curves and ended four inches above her knee. She had her back to him as she stood, stretching, likely planning on heading off to bed, but different urges spoke to Naruto. Dropping the towel to the floor, he walked up behind her and lifted the robe above her waist, thrusting into her as he did so. Ahsoka gasped in surprise and shock, turning to look at her lover's eyes, but he immediately began thrusting with wild abandon, her expression turning into one of confused, attempted suppression of wild pleasure. As a result of his lifting her robe, the fabric pooled loosely around her hips, and the tie came undone, the garment falling open. Her breasts bounced their way free from out under the fabric, and he pawed them gruffly from behind, pulling her until her back was flush against his chest. Nipping at her neck, Naruto continued with the act until he groaned into her ear, spraying his seed deep inside her.
She staggered slightly when he let go of her, but she almost seemed drunk rather than harmed. Her skin was flushed, and when the robe fell off, leaving her completely naked, she didn't care. "That was… surprising," she said, falling onto the couch and fanning herself with her hand.
"I'm sorry," he told her, sitting next to her. He sat sideways, so he was facing her, and he put his arm forward along the back of the chair so it ran behind her shoulders. "I just… couldn't resist you in that robe." She giggled slightly, but there was a bit of nervousness to the sound. He could tell that he had frightened her a little bit; the sheer unexpectedness of the action, coupled with the silence and speed would have frightened anyone. "Did I startle you?"
"Well, a little at first," she admitted, "but I love you, and I trust you enough to know that you would never hurt me." She absently traced the silver tattoos on his chest with a finger, humming softly to herself. "So long as those are the only urges the Dark Side gives you toward me, I'm not scared." He smiled, wrapping his arms around her, and they fell asleep wrapped in each other's limbs, unknowing of the dangers approaching.
Well, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. We're starting to see a little bit of the darkness that will come with Naruto being a Sith, so you guys don't have to say that I'm doing a weak job of portraying that darkness. Review, and tell me how I did.
-Zeratide, out.