1 chapter 1

            "Defend your position! The Seps are on the move!" The orders were relayed through her wrist comm and she signaled for her group of clones to take up position. Nobody knew exactly how they'd infiltrated Kamino of all places, but if the Republic couldn't hold the facility, the war would be lost. Without the clone troopers, they had only a small number of Jedi compared to the hordes of battle droids. 

            She looked up when she felt him. Oh no... Skywalker... if he was here, they wouldn't stand a chance spread out so thin. The chosen one a Sith, it had been the Jedi's worst nightmare when they found out they had him. 

            "Defend the armory!" She was on her feet. 

            "But sir?" Rex said.

            "The chosen one is here! If I don't lead him to the other Jedi, we'll all be lost. Now captain, defend the armory," she didn't mean to be short with him, but she knew in her gut this wouldn't end well if he fought them one by one. She was disobeying direct orders from her master, but she had to follow her instincts. 

            She raced down the hallway, skidding around a corner. "You won't win, Skywalker," she taunted when she saw his back. 

            He slowly looked over his shoulder and grinned. "So, the council sent a padawan to defend its primary troops. Why am I not surprised?"

            "I'm stronger than I look," she said indignantly. Pulling her two lightsabers to her hands and spinning them into her reverse grip. 

            "We'll see, we'll see," he chuckled. His golden eyes flashed in the harsh light of the sterile facility. "It's a shame, we have to fight. You seem like a lot of fun. I'd hate to kill you." She narrowed her eyes at him and he summoned his lightsaber to his hands. He ignited it dramatically and waved it around in front of him, ending in form five. 

            She took a deep breath and raced at him, twirling out of the way of his swing. She flipped off the wall and swung at him. He blocked her easily, gracefully moving to the side. He swung at her intensely and she was forced to leap the first time and roll the second time, missing getting hit by a hair. He was far too strong for her to take him alone. Now that she had his attention, she needed to move him towards her master's position. 

            "I can feel your fear, you know? You can't hide it," he taunted.

            "I'm not afraid of you," she snapped, finding an opportunity to push him back with the force. He jammed his lightsaber into the floor to slow himself down. Then he looked up at her from where he was crouching. His honey colored hair fell around his face and he blew a curly lock out of his eyes. He had a kind of sexy smirk that was confusing her. Why had she even noticed that?

            He ran at her, combining his power with a burst of speed and she just barely ducked out of the way. He rolled over her back and swept low. She leapt over his saber but lost her balance and fell to the floor. One of her weapons went flying as she frantically rolled to miss his repeated strikes. "You let your guard down, Snips," he said, almost as though he was trying to coach her. "I would have thought Obi wan would teach you better than that."

            She used the force to pull her lightsaber back to her hand. "He's taught me plenty!" She leapt back to her feet and swung wildly. "He's a good teacher. Disciplined. Not that it matters to you!" He spun her around. 

            "You know, Snips," he pushed her back against the wall, looming as they met over their lightsabers. "Your master doesn't seem like very much fun. You should join me, I could show you a much better time."

            "And just what do you mean by that?" she scowled at him and looked up at his eyes. To her surprise there was danger there, but more mischief than malice. Did he really mean that? And why did he keep calling her Snips?

            He pinned her back against the wall, their lightsabers getting closer and closer to her chest, she could feel their heat. She gritted her teeth trying to put all her strength into pushing him back. But before she managed to do that, he leaned over them and gave her a quick, but intense kiss on the lips. She stared up at him in surprise almost forgetting to hold her position. 

            "What was that for?"

            "Consider it a sample," he winked at her and then he flipped backwards, shut off his lightsaber and disappeared down a hatch. She was left staring after him, reeling. That fight had hardly been fair, but it wasn't even because of his power versus her own. She brought her hand up to her lips, still feeling the tingly sensation his had left her with. What the kriff was wrong with her? He was the enemy! He was evil! But... why had that felt so good?

            "Come back here, Skyguy!" She jumped down the hatch after him, following the sounds of his laughter as they echoed through the pipes. 

            "I knew you'd want more." She jumped around a corner to her left, but he wasn't there. "Skyguy, huh? I like it. See? You're already having more fun with me."

            "Who said I chased you to have fun? Or that you could offer me any?" she demanded, heat rising in her cheeks. She jumped around another corner, feeling distinctly on edge. Well maybe she hadn't succeeded at leading him to the other Jedi, but at least she was keeping him busy for the time being. The longer his attention was on her, the better the Republic's chances of beating back the Seps.

            "Don't be such a stick in the mud, Snips," he laughed from somewhere behind her and she spun around. 

            "Why do you keep calling me that? My name is Ahsoka!"

            "Awww 'Soka, how sweet," he drawled, and she ran down the pipe to her right. "Snips fits you so much better though."

            She leapt out to her left. Where the kriff was he? "What does that even mean?"

            "It means you're snippy." He appeared upside down in front of her. She swung her lightsaber at him and he managed to roll up out of the way. "But that, that was rude." He pushed her back with the force and she landed ten feet away, her butt in the water. 

            She glared up at him, trying not to admire the way his hair fell around below his head as he dangled there watching her. "Are you enjoying this?" she asked, her hands on her hips. 

            "Of course," he grinned at her. "Aren't you?"

            He reached up one well-muscled arm and grabbed the bar his legs were hooked over, gracefully maneuvering his flip right side up and landed softly in the couple of inches of standing water. "Of course not," she replied indignantly. 

            "Well then, what can we do to change that?" He pulled her to her feet with the force. She fought him as he pulled her towards him. She didn't know what to do. She'd only ever been pushed away before. She grabbed onto a metal ladder, but he was so strong, she could barely hold on. 

            "Let me go," she said through gritted teeth. "You're crazy!"

            "I get that a lot," he murmured. "But you know what they say." He jerked the force so hard she lost her grip on the ladder and flew into his arms. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." He squeezed her up against him and she squirmed trying to get away. 

            "I'm pretty sure this is not what that saying means!" She tried to peel his hands off from around her stomach. 

            "Well, it's a good interpretation of it anyways, don't you think?"

            "No!" 

            He sighed and let her go, she staggered a little and had to catch herself on the wall to stay upright. "You wound me, Snips. I really thought we had something special going on here." He straightened. "I'll let you in on a little secret though, so maybe next time you'll be a little more hospitable. Kamino was just a distraction." He pulled out his lightsaber, made a quick circle in the bottom of the pipe and jumped through it. She stared after him as he turned mid-fall and dove into the stormy waters beneath the facility. 

            What the kriff did he mean by that? "Master Kenobi!" she punched the button on her comm.

            "Kenobi here," he replied sounding tired. 

            "Skywalker was here, I fought him. He got away, but he said Kamino was just a distraction!"

            "We need to inform the council, immediately. Regroup at the medical facility, with your squadron."

            "Yes master," she replied obediently and shut down the transmission. She looked back down through the hole he'd cut and stared at the water where he'd disappeared. She had no idea what to think about anything that had happened. No wonder he was just playing games if they didn't care if they won on Kamino. But... she was almost certain he'd been telling her the truth. Not about the war, but about what he could offer her. She'd be stupid to take his offer of course, but the way his lips had felt against hers... the way he'd smiled at her, not just in mockery but with genuine emotion... and the way his hands felt around her waist... what the kriff was wrong with her?