A/N: This is my and Slifer's take on Kenobi (the show)

We sincerely hope that you find it entertaining. We worked hard on it.

Many thanks to him for helping me write this. Not sure if anyone can see this, what with notifications breaking -App works- but here goes nothing.

I'm going crazy with the site being broken, so here we are, unleashing all the updates that have been pent up. I'll also be going away for a week or so come the end of October. Might get back early, might not. I need some time to clear my head. I've been trying to shake my uncle's death off, but I just can't. I want to get over it, I do, I want to stop feeling sad, but I just can't.

Don't even get me started on the what-ifs, the helplessness, the rage...

In other news...depression's starting to hit reeeeaaaal hard these days.

Sometimes I wonder why I do anything at all. I can't claim to understand what's going wrong with my head.

I don't even know why! One moment I'm fine, then my mood craters for a few hours, then I'm back again for a bit, and the cycle repeats. Its rather annoying; as though I've become a prisoner in my own mind sometimes. Sure, what's one more mental problem on the pile. Not like I don't have enough, what with already being this old. Feels like every day is a battle sometimes. But when I go to the docs, they say oh no, you're fine, you're just tired. HA!

Writing helps fend it off the worst of it times, but when I come back to myself, its still there. Waiting for me.

*siiiigh*

Don't mind the rambling of this geezer...I'm still here, still trying to beat this thing, even after fifteen years here.

With my fifteen year anniversary on this site finally here, I find myself reflecting on the little things in life. What was once a lazy pastime meant for me and a few friends really grew and evolved over time. There are days when I look back on the last fifteen years here and I wonder if anyone will remember me; if I made an impact, despite never making a single cent on any of these stories. Some days were happier than others, and some stories I enjoyed writing WAY too much; to the point where I'd stay up all night working on them.

And of course, there are times when I look to the future and wonder what will become of things when I'm gone.

Of course, I try not to dwell on the latter overmuch; I'm still alive and still writing. In an ideal world, I'd like to keep doing so for as long as I can. But old age is catching up to me and these days, the world is filled with so much madness and death. Feels like everyone's lost their minds sometimes. Even before that, so many friends and fellow writers I once knew are gone, now. Will I still be here in twenty years? Ten? Five? Its a chilling thought. But for now, I'm still here, still writing.

So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others.

I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time.

Time and feedback will determine if this remains a story. Simple as that.

As ever, I own no references, quotes, memes or themes.

They're tributes to legends far greater than I.

Title is a pun and I'm not sorry.

"You having trouble? There's a Jedi. He helps people."

"...the Jedi are all gone."

"I'll take you to him, old man. For the right price."

~?

I Am No Jedi

Daiyu hung with an almost understated glint amidst the darkness of space, its misty green surface ringed by a halo of cyan atmosphere that clung to the side of the planet, wreathed in the light of the system's single main stage star. Located on the Slice of the Mid Rim, the planet was a meeting of corporate metropolises with sporadic swaths of temperate rainforest that contributed to the perpetual rains that, were it not for corporate-sanctioned cloud seeding, would make it a very wet world. Yet even if the rains had been permitted to flow naturally, it was doubtful that it would do much for the metaphorical gunk that clung to the cities like persistent parasites. Corporations did anything they pleased on Daiyu with a sizable imperial tithe keeping the Empire's presence on the planet to a minimum and lawful eyes blind to the seemingly endless spice runners, slavers and bounty hunters that thronged the neon glinting streets.

It was in this hive of scum and villainy that a single figure slowly walked deeper into the city. Obi-Wan Kenobi adjusted the hood of his cloak so that the shadow it cast obscured most of his face, just another faceless human amongst the myriad of beings that had birthed from the Outer Rim transport some two hours before. He paused briefly amidst the bustling pedestrian traffic that made up one of the many night markets, taking a few moments to centre himself.

Emotions were thick here, not potent but thick, an underlying apathetic miasma of greed, paranoia, despair and dashes of ambition that served to distract him. 'By the Force, Master, what has brought me to this forsaken place?' Obi-Wan asked, hoping his many decades-dead Master would give him some kind of guidance. Receiving no reply, Obi-Wan let his eyes slide closed briefly and deadened himself to the Force, the unfamiliar emotions bleeding away for a moment of serenity and, with it, remembrance.

Of course, he remembered why he was here; how could he ever forget? For ten years, he had been in exile, a decade of isolation in the harsh wilds of Tatooine, standing vigil over his fallen Padawan's son, not because he wanted to but because he had to. Duty. Duty to the Jedi, duty to hope and duty to the legacy of man his Padawan had been. Eyes snapping open, Obi-wan moved off, his movements now less awkward and disturbed, his lined face maintaining a stoic expression as he recalled why he was here.

It began shortly after his monotonous cover as a meat harvester in the Dune Sea had been interrupted by the arrival of an old friend, but it was not good tidings that Bail Organa brought, far from it. Leia had been taken, snatched from the forests of her home and spirited away with such speed that Bail- usually a man of composure and charisma- had leaned against the walls of Kenobi's cave in a state of utter bewilderment and despair, begging Obi-Wan to save his daughter. A knot of shame formed in the pit of his stomach when he remembered his initial resistance to the idea, he had not relished the prospect of leaving Luke unprotected or even having to use the force again when so many years had been spent suppressing it in public.

In the end, those memories of Padme's death throes spurred him into action, asking Bail for every detail the imperial senator could spare about Leia's kidnapping. Security footage and spaceport registration information had tagged a small CEC freighter leaving Alderan shortly after the order to lock down the ports had gone out. A cursory investigation of the ship's registration had turned out to be a fake. Still, its exterior modifications fell in line with a ship belonging to Vect Nokru, a human smuggler that had been spotted in the capital city the day of the kidnapping. It did not take a Jedi to divine that he was the likely suspect.

Obi-Wan had taken a corporate sector transport ship bound for Daiyu after Bail was able to track the ship's course to the secretive metropolis. The corporate transport had been cramped and uncomfortable but what mattered was that it was fast, its class One hyperdrive far superior to the class 4 in Nokru's freighter. It meant that while the kidnappers had a head start on him, Obi-Wan was able to close the distance remarkably quickly, taking the Gamor Run hyperspace lane he had arrived on Daiyu, which could at most be only two days behind the kidnappers.

It was serendipity that had ultimately proved to be without substance so far, as he hadn't turned up any leads in the few hours since arriving in Daiyu City. 'For all the neon, everyone is content to slip into the shadows,' Obi-Wan mused darkly, face set in a stoic grimace, his lined face watching spice dealers openly offer vials of Glitterstem to the underaged and Death Sticks to the feeble. 'I doubt telling them to go home and rethink their lives would do little more than make them consider upping their prices,' he added before catching the attention of a thick-set Zabrack butcher and asking if he had seen his 'daughter', he frowned when he was told that he'd seen neither hide nor hair of such a girl.

Taking a seat on one of the raised duracrete benches that passed for Daiyu's urban planning, Obi-Wan considered for a moment opening himself to the force for guidance, but a trio of stormtroopers making their way through stayed his hand. He watched them nonchalantly, not looking directly at them as they crossed the mesa in loose lockstep, their sterile white armour reflecting the countless brightly coloured signs before leaving to continue their patrol elsewhere.

The incognito Jedi released a breath and held back on opening himself to the force for now. It was like a numb limb that had not been used for a very long time, a familiar comfort but not without its peculiarity and pain. Even now, the lightsaber hanging at his hip felt strange after so long and bad memories did not incline him to be more blatant with the Force than he needed to be. These were dark times when being open with the force would see you either twisted to a servant of the Sith or lynched like that poor Jedi that had sought him out on Tatooine before Leia had been kidnapped. He shivered at old, painful memories; seeing the destitute member of the 501st begging for change made him weary of emotion clouding usage of the force. Still…

'What would Anakin think if he saw his beloved troops abandoned by the Republic they fought and died for?' he wondered, caught on a trip down memory lane. He was so wrapped in his reverie that only hard-wired danger senses spurred him to act as the small hand got close to the back of his neck.

He wheeled, his grey robe twisting like a wraith to face the one that had snuck up on him, calloused hand whipping out like a viper to lock around the wrist of what turned out to be a young boy.

The boy looked at him with surprised eyes, not having expected Obi-Wan to move so fast, a bead of nervous sweat rolling down his dark brown skin. "Woah there," he bit out quickly, snared hand presenting a placating palm, "Easy there, old man. I ain't gonna hurt you, 'kay?' he offered, staying remarkably calm.

It was well practised, Obi-Wan realised the urchin had likely been caught pickpocketing enough times to know how best to avoid a beating. He let go of the boy's wrist and watched the lad rub some life back into it, taking the chance to take the adolescent's measure. He couldn't have been much older than 12 with dark skin, thick curly black hair and keen eyes. The urchin wore a rough green jacket with furred collar and neckerchief over bedraggled overalls, the traditional raiment of a thief and pickpocket. "What do you want, child?" Obi-Wan asked, voice serious but level, there was no need to make a scene.

"Just overheard you talking to the horny butcher," the urchin said, thumbing in the direction of the Zabrack that Obi-Wan had spoken with, "rotten bit of luck, losing a kid on Daiyu, 'names Jayco, by the way."

Obi-Wan gave the now-named Jayco a curt nod, "Do you know where she might be, Jayco?" he asked the Daiyu native, his accented basic matching the majority of the others, telling him that the child likely knew the streets. "She couldn't have been here for more than two days. Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary in the last two days?"

Jayco scoffed, crossing his thin arms over his chest, "Don't come to Daiyu much, huh? Man taking a blaster bolt to the face is common here, trying to find one crime on Daiyu's like finding a Quarren on Dac." He tilted his head to the side and then smiled, "but if you need help, there's a Jedi here, he helps people."

Blue eyes widened, and greying eyebrows shot up in surprise and disbelief, he managed to maintain his composure and, after a beat, looked around them to make sure no one was listening in. "There are no more Jedi."

The child grinned. "Daiyu is for secrets, perfect place for one to hide, no? At any rate, if you need help, he's the best one to give it, trust me."

Ah, trust, such a foreign concept after ten long years of exile caused by betrayal.

And yet...

'It's my best lead so far.' Obi-wan lifted himself to his feet and gave Jayco another nod of assent, allowing the young boy to lead him on through the crowd.

(.0.0.0.)

It had taken twenty minutes for Jayco to lead Obi-Wan through the streets to their destination, a seemingly ordinary industrial storage complex that sat squat amongst a dozen identical buildings in this part of the city. Speaking honestly, Obi-Wan had more than once considered slipping away into the crowd rather than being led into some kind of trap, it was likely that the child thought him some hapless, down-on-his-luck tourist. An easy mark to be taken off the beaten path, mugged for what little credits he had, and left destitute to become one of Daiyu's many tragic stories. And yet desperation and curiosity had drawn him onwards.

Was there truly a Jedi on Daiyu? He knew that he wasn't the last of their kind, and helping those in need was something his former order was prone to do. If the Jedi proved to be the real deal, then he would be an immeasurable help; if not, then… well, that was what the holdout blaster tucked into his belt was for.

"This is the place?" Kenobi asked Jayco, who nodded quickly, he cast a look up at the squat building with its grey durasteel and permacrete walls with grime-speckled orange lamps set into its walls at uniform intervals. The doorway was a wide trapezium shape with a soot-encrusted sign at its apex that read 'Damask Holdings' in pitted and dinged aurebesh characters.

"Easiest way in and around the city," Jayco replied, pointing down at the floor, "underground railroads for cargo transport 'ya get me? Easy to move people and goods alike, plus the Empire doesn't like to look into these old tunnels. Too much trouble."

He couldn't hear any deceit in the young lad's voice, so he sighed, "Very well, is the Jedi inside?"

Before Jayco could reply, a figure stepped out of the shadows of the archway, clad in a short hooded black robe and white pants. Both of his hands were clasped in front of him akin to a monk, the loap of his step in line with menace. "Halt, traveller!" he exclaimed in a loud voice, making a sweeping motion with his hand and holding it up to bar Obi-Wan's path, "If you seek the Jedi, then you must first prove yourself worthy of me, the guardian of the gate!"

Obi-Wan blinked owlishly at the grand declaration, looking between the apparent praetorian and the otherwise empty street, a silence having fallen over it that had he been younger, he would have taken to be foreboding. But with age came wisdom, experience to read a situation beyond the obvious markers of black and white reality of benign vs trap.

'No one is turning down from the main street to have a look, and I can't sense anyone moving to block off my escape routes. A show of bravado then.' He concluded, thumbing the safety catch on his hidden blaster back on.

His assessment was proven accurate when Jayco let out an exasperated sigh, "Oh for the love of- Haja, cut that crap out, you know the boss hates it when you try to shake down those who are in need." The adolescent picked up a nearby bottle and threw it at the hooded figure who yelped and ducked for cover, the bottle shattering on the durasteel door.

A trill of wry amusement lapped at Obi-Wan's soul before he stamped it back into stoic pragmatism, glibly watching Jayco pick up a seemingly endless number of objects to lob at the hooded man.

Having enough of the onslaught, the man called Haja held up a hand, "Okay, okay, enough, you don't gotta throw half a star destroyer at me," he exclaimed, throwing his hood back, "but you know I gotta practise my acting somehow, one day it's going to come in handy." Jayco scowled at Haja, a human in his early 40s with light brown skin and a mirthful face. He turned to look at Kenobi and inclined his head in apology, "Sorry about that, needs must on Daiyu, I'm sure you get that."

Obi-Wan most certainly did not, but he was willing to put up with a few eccentricities if it meant he could get Leia back, "You aren't the Jedi." His words were delivered with a stone cold voice.

Haja nodded, scratching his chin with a slight pout, "Nope, but I vet people who he sees, can never be sure if a person really needs help or if they're just looking for the bounty on his head."

"Doesn't stop you from trying to trick tourists for credits," Jayco sniped.

"Hey, I- oh forget it." Haja waved off the youth dismissively before focusing solely on Kenobi, "For a proper introduction, I'm Haja Estree, you've met Jayco and considering he brought you here, I can assume you have an issue that you need the Jedi to help you with?"

"My daughter, she was kidnapped by a smuggler by the name of Nokru," Obi-Wan said earnestly, eyes boring deep into Haja's own. "I tracked the ship to Daiyu but I haven't been able to find her since, it's like the ship simply vanished after getting to Daiyu."

The con artist's face gained a note of genuine concern at his words, his body language shift telling Kenobi that he had got his attention. He slipped a hand into his pants and withdrew a small terminal before activating it, a small hologram of the Corporate Sector's logo appearing in his hand. "Corporate edict keeps jammers up on ship frequencies, a lot of elicit R&D gets done on this planet that people don't want getting out in the open, but if you want to find a needle in this haystack of a planet then you've come to the right people."

"Then you'll help me?" Obi-Wan asked as Haja turned off the projector.

Haja nodded, pressing a button on the handheld terminal. The large door behind him slid open on well oiled hydraulics with a light hiss, the conman bayed Obi-Wan to enter. "Me, no, but the Jedi will help anyone who needs it and you sound like you really need it."

Eyeing the darkness beyond with a cautious eye, the Jedi stepped over the threshold and began to follow Haja through an array of wide corridors lit by harsh white lights.

"He's seeing a family right now but once he's done just announce yourself and he'll see you." Haja brought Kenobi to the face of another wide door before turning and making his way off into the building, trusting the Kenobi to go through by himself.

Obi-Wan took a moment to recentre himself, this all seemed too good to be true. A part of his mind counselled that he simply leave as there was no way that this could be so simple. Slowly, he opened himself to the force and sensed the room before him, the awareness of the beyond flowing into him like a babbling brook into a long dried up riverbed. He could sense two people in the room beyond, glinting as wisps of light before his mind's eye, the first was that of an adult, a woman. Her emotions were rife with desperation but also a level of relief radiating through her as she shifted her focus between the other light and something else. The other person was much younger, felt younger even than young Jayco had with a feeling of confusion, anticipation and excitement, brighter in the force by far, he was also splitting his focus between the woman and something else.

Increasing his focus, Obi-Wan sensed 'something' across from them, he couldn't quite make it out. 'It's like a… blur, something there but hidden, a part of the room yet strangely separate.' he thought, it was as if his mind did not want to notice the other in the room, that it was something better off ignored. After a minute, Kenobi reached out and pressed the open button on a nearby panel, the door sliding open silently and stepped inside.

Sticking to the shadows and stepping lightly, Obi-Wan peaked out to observe the goings on, seeing a mother and son sitting on one side of the desk and a hooded figure on the other.

"Don't worry, you're safe now." the hooded man said, his voice full of empathy and youth as he raised his hands to throw back his hood, revealing a relatively young visage. Beaming blue eyes shone from a tan face framed by tawny blond hair and strange whiskers. The latter dimpled in a cheery smile as he spoke to the mother and her child.

They tried to pay him. He waved the credits down, once, twice, thrice, until it became clear that the mother wouldn't take no for an answer.

Smiling, he sent them on their way.

Silence reigned.

...you can come out now." he didn't look up from the table. "I can sense you."

A beat of silence passed before Obi-Wanr emerged from the shadows, approaching at a sedate pace.

Once he drew within five feet of the blonde his step faltered, hit by a sudden flashbang to his senses. It was as if he had passed through an obscuring fog into the cold light of day, the metaphorical golden flame of the blonde all but punching him in the gut with its potency, but after a moment it passed. However, his sudden reaction had not gone unnoticed.

Those blue eyes cut to him, suddenly sharp.

The blonde rose from his chair and leaned against his table to get a better look at Obi-Wan.

"An actual Jedi, huh? Didn't think there were any of your kind left." The blonde's words carried a note of genuine interest, the flame of curiosity burning in his face.

Obi-Wan swallowed thickly, fingers twitching in the direction of the blaster at his hip before stealing his nerves and calming his face. "I am no Jedi," he lied with a straight face but could not help examining the blonde before him in the Force. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. The Force was STRONG with him, but in a way that baffled what he knew of it.

The Force was everything, the collective energy field of all matter and energy in a single homogeneous will that was interpreted differently across the stars but by the Jedi, it was accepted that there were three sub-types. The Cosmic Force was the unifying gestalt, the force as a whole, whereas the Physical Force was the ability to manipulate and incite change in the physical world. But this lad before him was a bastion of the third form of the Force, the Living Force, but it was…bizarre.

"You are," the blonde said after staring at Obi-Wan for a moment, then bobbed his head. "And I am not."

Obi-Wan pursed his lips, giving the blonde a once over, and found that aside from the black hooded robe he wore over his clothes similar to the one Haja wore he did not have the attire of a Jedi. If anything he looked somewhere between a spacer and a hermit with tattered orange trousers tucked into scuffed boots and a scorched mail shirt peeking out from under the robe.

"What makes you think that I'm a Jedi? If I were, then I would be trying to hide," Obi-Wan replied nonchalantly, his statement probing.

Lips twitching up in vulpine amusement, the blonde's focus shifted towards the Jedi's right hip, "Your Thunder God's Sword glinted in the shadows of the room, Jedi." Obi-Wan's grimace told him that he was not meant to have seen it.

Thunder God's Sword? That was a very antiquated term but it told the old Jedi a lot about the boy before him, he knew the hallmarks of a Jedi even if he did not know the correct terms. Interesting. Calloused fingers hooked around the edge of Kenobi's robe as he pulled it back to reveal the silver and black cylinder clipped to his belt.

Shooting the younger man a thoughtful frown he asked, "How do you know I did not simply kill a Jedi and take it from him?" For reasons he could not quite fathom, Obi-Wan felt a queer sense of cosmic irony creep up his spine at his own words, his ears twitching, catching the ghost of a chuckle on the wind.

Turning pensive, the young man slowly came around to the front of his desk so he was face to face with Kenobi, leaning back against it comfortably as his piercing blue eyes met Obi-Wan's. "Possibly, it's entirely in the realm of possibility. After all, I've had a few run-ins with the ones in black and they were all bark and no bite, Thunder God's Swords notwithstanding."

"Lightsabers," Obi-Wan corrected, getting an appreciative smile from the blonde youth.

"Aha!" a peal of delighted laughter answered him. "So that's what they're called! Much simpler then, but to answer your earlier question, a friend of mine passed a message along earlier a few hours ago about seeing an 'old Jedi General' near the port and low and behold, here you are." he held up his hands to Kenobi. "Was I wrong?"

A shiver of fear lanced up Obi-Wan's spine, though the young man's cheery demeanor kept him calm enough to not let it show. He silently mouthed 'the clone trooper' drawing a nod from the man opposite him.

"Aye, Scruffy's a bit down on his luck but there's a strength to being retched, no one pays attention to you and my friend spoke in glowing terms. He's a wonderful man, though everyone treats him like the plague due to being a clone," he said, his next words under his breath, "A concept that I find really weird given my fondness for them. Well, a type of clone… I'm getting side tracked." Shaking his head to rid himself of the internal debate, the blonde returned his focus to Kenobi, "So, Jayco and Haja wouldn't have brought you here if you didn't need help, so what do you need?"

Did he dare trust him? A force user stood before him who had just openly admitted to colluding with clones, the ones who had culled the once numerous Jedi down to a handful of exiles. This could be an elaborate trap from the Inquisitorius that would see Leia gone, him dead and Luke unprotected… but did he really have any better choice right now?

"A girl has been kidnapped." he said after a moment. "I need your help to find her."

Here at last, a flicker of alarm crossed across the blond's face. He expected many things in that instant.

None of which occurred. "That's terrible!" The younger man sprang to his feet. "Where do we start? When was she taken? What does she look like?"

The Living Force within the young man roiled, coiling through his body like an ocean compressed into the shape of a man. Obi-Wan found himself mesmerised by it and the way it attempted to reach out beyond his body to connect with the Cosmic Force only to recoil into his body as if touching something in pain, the skin of the universe and the force was bruised around him.

He was eager. Too eager. Desperate to help.

It begged the question.

Several, really.

"...what are you?" Obi-Wan asked honestly, both confused at the Force phenomena and the sheer quixotic altruism the blonde poured into his words. After ten years under the Empire, it was rare to find someone willing to take risks for a stranger.

"Who, actually." the blond held up a finger. Paused, as if listening to someone else speak. "Alright, alright, I'm getting to it, Kurama. Naruto Uzumaki, at your service," thusly introduced, he extended a hand that Obi-Wan was surprised to see was just as calloused as his own. "Maybe you can help me shed some light on things."

He gestured with the hand toward the chair he'd vacated, brows knitting in concentration. It trembled for a moment, then shot up and struck the ceiling. He looked a little chagrined.

"See?! I've seen some strange stuff, but I'm usually not able to do that." Naruto jabbered, annoyance and excitement producing a sour tone to his usually happy sounding voice. "Not before I fell out of the sky two years ago, at least."

Upon witnessing the display of the Physical Force, sputtering out from within the temple of Naruto's body, Obi-Wan stroked his beard, his mind a whir with thoughts of what he had just seen. His power was crude. Untamed. Perhaps a knock on of the 'bruise in the force' that he perceived around Naruto.

"Is it always like this?"

"I tend to have better control when I get emotional," came the confession.

Hairs rose on the back of the older man's neck.

The Dark Side.

Was he a...no, no. that wasn't quite right. There was darkness in him, but also light. Dark light? Could light be dark? He couldn't think of another word for it. Try as he might, he couldn't seem to get a read on him. That only unnerved him further. He knew full well the temptations of the Dark, he had seen firsthand what it did to good, well-meaning men. What had it done to Anakinbefore-

No. He shook his head. Don't dwell on that-

But this "Naruto" was helping people, wasn't he?

The blond gestured to the table and sat upon it. After a moment, Obi-Wan followed him and sat in the chair not currently stuck to the ceiling.

"It's not right, what's happening here. To these people. This planet. This...galaxy? I think that's the word." Naruto's shoulders hunched. "I wanna fix it, but I don't know how. I can only do so much. Sometimes I just want to-no, nevermind." he took a moment to centre himself. "So I'm starting with this planet. And if I can learn to master this," he waved a hand and a nearby cup rattled, "All the better. I think it'll help. Could you teach me?"

Brows knitting together, Kenobi could think of a dozen reasons why not off the top of his head. Too old, too emotional, too… 'He's the same age as Anakin when he fell…' he thought with moroseness. What he would not do to right that past wrong.

"...I cannot." he finally said, eyes full of old memories. All that mattered was getting Leia back, then he could return to his post protecting Luke.

The youth sighed. "You can, you just won't. Fine. I won't pry."

He reached a tan hand across the table.

"You know, I never got your name."

"...Ben."

Shaking hands, Naruto slowly grinned. "Well then, Ben, let me ask you, how good are you at Sabac?"

A/N: Just a tentative way of dipping a toe back into Star Wars. We'll see if folks like this.

Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this little tale. Sad to say, but if folks don't like this, it won't be continued. Meaning that if the story itself ain't popular? Well, I'll love the drive to continue it! I'm working two jobs during the holidays so I barely have time to write; as such, I cannot afford to write something folks don't enjoy. So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard! As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustains me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that.

So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Review, Would You Kindly?

And have some previews.

Granted, some remain far off, but still...

(Previews)

"How have they not caught you?"

A blond brow waggled.

"You're not the first inquisitor I've killed. No, there have been so many."

Leia wrinkled her nose. "You're weird."

Naruto reeled, looking like he'd been struck across the face. "Hey! I'll have you know I'm a pretty cool guy!"

Obi-Wan hid a smile behind his hand.

Light side? Dark side? Don't care. I just want to help. Where's the wrong in that?

Reeva grunted, her chest smarting from the blonde's blow with the electrostaff fiercely, her arm slashed out to try and clip him with the tip of her lightsaber but he ducked under. The force screamed at her to dodge, to flee and run away from the grinning monster that struck from the shadows. In her anger, she ignored it.

"I will not be denied! You will give me Kenobi or I will have the skin peeled from your fingers you outer rim gutter rat!" she raged, flipping the switch on her lightsaber to send the blades spinning.

"Gutter rat? Is that what you see people less fortunate than yourself as?" Naruto's voice whispered from the darkness, "Prideful little thing, aren't you? One in need of an attitude adjustment," he blitzed from the shadows, a blur too fast to follow even as his body was lit with the strobing red light of Reeva's sabre. The strobing came to a sudden and disquieting stop, red slitted eyes boring into terrified brown. "Do me a favour, Inquisitor. Clench your teeth!"

Then there was only pain.