Chapter Three

Obi-Wan and Anakin sprinted into the hangar, leaping into the nearest speeder. Sadly, for Obi-Wan, Anakin was the one driving. He hated it when Anakin was at the controls, he was always so reckless when it came to flying. Especially when Obi-Wan was around. His apprentice knew that traveling by ship, speeder, etc. drove him insane. He would've rather ran a mile than fly in a transport through the air.

"Do you see her?" Obi-Wan asked as he looked over the edge of the flying vehicle. The traffic was thick at this time of night, and the business seemed to worry the two Jedi eve more. What if she fell? What if she landed on another vehicle and crashed it? What if she was-

'No, I can't afford to think like that right now.' Obi-Wan thought to himself. He couldn't assume what had happened to her, he needed to find her. And fast.

Denali held on as tightly as she could, her braid flying behind her. Her eyes watered from the rushing air that was sweeping past her face as she flew through the air. She could feel her fingers sleeping, but she knew she couldn't let go. Letting go meant falling to her death. Death definitely wasn't an option welcomed at the moment. Just a the thought registered through her mind, she saw someone on one of the buildings lift a rifle, then heard a loud BLAST as the droid she was clinging onto for life was shot down. She let go, falling down through the air. She leveled her body out, so that she was falling at an angle. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a familiar flying transport. The two people in the vehicle were even more recognizable.

"I don't see her anywhere." She heard Anakin say. She smirked as she quietly landed on the back of the speeder, stealthily crawling up to the seats the two were sitting in.

"Master, I think she's-"

"Right behind you?" She finished Anakin's sentence for him. Both of the men shouted in shock, then Anakin began to laugh. Obi-Wan put his hand on his chest, trying to slow down his beating heart. "Scoot over, and follow that vehicle. That's the one our bounty hunter is in." Denali said as she slid in between the two. It was kind of difficult since the craft was only fitted for two riders, but Denali really didn't care. Anakin seemed to like the fact that they were so close. After a moment, he slowly stopped laughing and obeyed her orders.

"What possessed you to jump out of that window?" Obi-Wan finally asked.

"You really freaked us out, Denali." Anakin said as he copied the bounty hunter's swift movements through the sky.

"You two really need to lighten up. I bet one of you would've done the same thing." Denali said, nudging Anakin. The young boy chuckled and rolled his eyes. Obi-Wan rolled his as well, except his action wasn't of amusement like Anakin's had been.

"Anakin, don't lose him." Obi-Wan said, slightly annoyed. Denali kept her eyes on the small ship as it blasted through the air, trying to lose them. But Anakin was doing an amazing job of keeping up with him. Denali honestly had never seen such amazing flying in her life, except for the time at the Boonta Eve Race on Tatooine. When Anakin had won the pod race. But then their speeder came to a stop as she realized Anakin had lost the bounty hunter.

"Excellent job, Anakin. He went completely in the other direction." Obi complained as he crossed his arms. Denali looked at Anakin and they made eye contact, smirks on their faces as they both knew exactly what they were going to do next. Anakin stood up in his seat, taking Denali's hand and helping her to her feet as well.

"If you'll excuse us, Master." Anakin said as they leapt out of the vehicle before Obi-Wan could object. They fell down, hand in hand, as they aimed for the right ship. It was crazy, but they didn't have a better plan. And they had to act fast before the matter flew out of their hands completely. They soon saw it, and angled themselves so that they would land on it properly. Anakin grabbed onto one side, while Denali grasped onto the other, heaving themselves on so that they wouldn't fall off. They looked in at the bounty hunter through the dark window, but couldn't see his face. It was hidden behind a mask.

The bounty hunter slowed down, causing the two to slide forward on the outside of the vehicle. They both were hanging off the edge, then pulled themselves up and onto the vehicle once more. Anakin climbed onto the top of the speeder, igniting his lightsaber and stabbing it through the metal. Denali climbed up as well when she notice that he was beginning to lose his grip. His lightsaber flew out of his hands, disappearing behind them. Anakin reached through the hole he had made and grabbed onto the bounty hunter's hand, which was holding a small silver blaster. The bounty hunter pulled the trigger, shooting at the controls of his ship.

"Anakin!" Denali shouted as the control panel burst into flames. She shielded her face from the sudden heat wave with her sleeve as she felt two hands grab onto her shoulders. The craft was diving downwards, she knew they were about to make a crash-landing. Denali hated crash landings, someone always ended up getting hurt. And usually it ended up being her.

"Hang onto me! And don't let go!" She heard Anakin's voice. She nodded and grabbed onto his shoulders as he pulled her in closer to him. They leaned over the edge of the speeder, she knew what Anakin was thinking. They were going to jump when they got close enough to the ground. A nervous knot appeared in her stomach. She squeezed her eyes closed. "Do you trust me?" Anakin shouted over the noise of the bursting engines of the speeder. She smacked his shoulder with her hand.

"Of course I do! Don't ask stupid questions like that at a time like this!" She shouted to him. Suddenly they were falling through the air, Anakin's chuckles filling the air. She hugged him tighter, burying her face in his chest. She could tell they were falling a long way down, but she knew he wouldn't let her get hurt. Anakin knew she trusted him as well. He could feel her heart beating as they landed on the ground. He felt his back slam against the pavement, then they were rolling. He had used himself as a cushion so that she wouldn't get hurt. After a moment, they finally stopped still. Denali looked up at Anakin, who was right on top of her. She smirked at him as he looked into her eyes.

"You're even more beautiful than I remember you to be." Anakin said with a small smile as he tucked a loose strand of her long blonde hair behind her ear. His sudden action shocked her, and she quickly got to her feet. She helped Anakin to his feet as well, trying to ignore what had just happened between them, as she searched the city floor for the crashed bounty hunter's speeder. That's when she saw the large cloud of smoke that had gathered a few yards away from them.

"Denali, I've been meaning to talk to you about-"

"No time for small talk, Ani. We need to get going. We can't let him escape." She said as she ran down the crowded Corosaunt street. Quickly swerving between crowds of people, animals, and aliens, she could easily make out the shape of the bounty hunter. Denali realized that the bounty hunter wasn't a man, but a woman. She could sense the hunter's nervousness in the air. Being chased down by a Jedi was definitely something scoundrels like this woman tried to avoid.

"Denali, wait!" She heard Anakin shout behind her as he tried to keep up. "This is a serious subject!" But she ignored him. She needed to keep her mind on the task at hand. Plus, if Obi-Wan found out that Anakin had admitted his feelings for her to her face, things wouldn't have ended very well between the Padawan and Master. The last thing she needed was to deal with that kind of feud. She kept running, racing after the woman.

Denali silently swore under her breath when she watched the bounty hunter run into the nearest club. It would take forever to find her in there. Especially if the club was as big as they usually were on the floors of Corosaunt. Anakin finally caught up with her as she leaned against the wall of hype building, her arms crossed. Anakin took a deep breath, trying to get his heart beat back to normal.

"You didn't let me finish." He told her.

"I know. This isn't the right time to talk about personal stuff." She stated simply.

"But what if-"

"Thank goodness you two are alright. You had me so worried." Obi-Wan said as. He entered the scene. Denali silently thanked him, happy that she didn't have to talk about personal feelings with the young boy. Obi-Wan lifted Anakin's lightsaber, handing it to his apprentice. "Don't lose this."

"Yes Master, but she-"

"I know she's in there. But we have to be careful about this. We'll split up. When one of us find her, we'll use our commlinks to contact one another and re-group outside." Obi-Wan stated. Denali shrugged, admitting that it wasn't a bad plan.

"First person to find her wins?" She suggested. Anakin smirked.

"You're on." He said as he high-fived her, then ran into the club. Denali and Obi-Wan followed closely behind.

Denali was completely unaware about how much danger she was truly in.