The Darkness Within
Well, here's the first chapter of my new story – and sequel to Torture and Trust – I really hope you enjoy it! Here goes!
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Ahsoka Tano raced down the long halls of the Jedi Temple, whizzing past Master's and other Padawans. The Togruta skidded around the corner, nearly knocking Kit Fisto over as she ran. "Sorry, Master Fisto!" Ahsoka yelled over her shoulder.
Kit chuckled as he dodged the Padawan, calling back to her, "It's no problem, young Ahsoka!"
Ahsoka felt like she was the luckiest girl in the universe for a moment; only because she had ran into a nice Master, not a horrible one like Jocasta or Mace Windu. She jumped over a group of Knights, soaring over them like an airplane. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she shot off again. When she flung herself around the next corner, she smiled triumphantly and shot down the hall where her and Master Skywalker's quarters were. But her smile was short lived when she saw Anakin on the opposite side of the hall. She skidded to a stop when she was outside the door, hurriedly searching through her pockets to find the keys.
"Come on, come on!" Ahsoka muttered desperately. Anakin stopped next to her and searched through his pockets too. The pair shot each other a quick, annoyed glance and dug their hands deeper into their pockets. "Yes!" Ahsoka exclaimed when she had found what she was looking for. She unlocked the door and lunged into the small living room, landing heavily on the couch. "Yes!" Ahsoka jumped as soon as she hit the couch, back on her feet again, bouncing like an excited puppy that was going for a walk. "I told you that I'd beat you! I knew I would!"
"Okay, okay. You won." Anakin admitted. He held up his hands in defeat and flopped down on the couch. Ahsoka sat next to him.
"So, Master, when are we gonna have another mission?" Ahsoka asked, looking up at the tall human.
"When the council gives us one." He sighed. Ahsoka had been asking him this for nearly two weeks.
"But I haven't had a mission in ages! The last time I had a mission was like, oh I don't know, but it was ages ago!" She whined, grabbing hold of his arm and squeezing. He didn't feel it; it was his mechanical arm.
"But remember, my young Padawan, you only got out of the medbay two months ago." Anakin stated, poking the little Togruta in the shoulder.
"Yeah, so? That was two months ago! And I'm fully recovered now!" The Padawan argued, resisting the urge to stomp her foot on the ground like a youngling.
"Whatever, Snips." Anakin slapped her arm playfully. Even now, Anakin was still her playful, big brother. And she was his mischievous little sister.
Anakin's comlink beeped, "Anakin, you and Ahsoka need to report to the council. We have a mission for you." Obi-Wan's voice said.
Ahsoka leaped up from the couch with an excited squeal. Yes! This was their first mission they had had in about six months. She had been in Dooku's clutches for about one month, and about three or four in medbay. After she had made a full recovery, she just stayed around the temple, doing nothing except training and working in class.
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"Go to the lower levels of Coruscant, you will. Just a quick check up, it is. Nothing to serious, hm?" Grand Master Yoda said, leaning forward ever so slightly.
Ahsoka's shoulders immediately slumped; her first mission in about six months, and it was just a kriffing check up in the lower level of kriffing Coruscant. What wasn't it anything exciting? No fights? No battles? Boring.
Walking back to her quarters – with her Master by her side – Ahsoka let out a long, irritated and bored sigh.
Anakin nudged her in the back with his elbow, "Don't worry, Ahsoka. I'll take you out for dinner after the mission, okay?" He looked down at his little Padawan.
Ahsoka smiled, "Thanks, Master."
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Anakin sat down opposite his Padawan. She was staring at the menu, blue eyes narrowed and sparkling. She passed the tattered menu over to her Master. They had just finished their mission. Nothing was going on, and everything was fine.
"What are you having, Master?" Ahsoka asked. Before Anakin answered, he could see one of Ahsoka's fingers twitch. She didn't even seem to notice.
"I dunno," Anakin took his eyes of her hands, "But I bet you're starving." As usual.
Ahsoka shrugged her small shoulders, "I think I'll have a nerf steak."
"I quite fancy a nerf steak, too." Anakin called over one of the service droids.
"Can I help you?" The droid said in its robotic voice, pulling out a datapad to write down the orders.
"I'll have a nerf steak and a jawa juice." Anakin said, placing the menu down on the table.
"The droid wrote down the orders on its small datapad, then rolled over to Ahsoka. "And you?" It asked in its irritating voice.
"I'll have a nerf steak and a blue milk, please." Ahsoka cast a dirty look over to Anakin as she said please; reminding the young Human that he had forgotten his manners. The Padawan ran a hand over her lekku, like someone would run their hands through their hair.
"Your food will be with you shortly." The droid said and then rolled off to go somewhere else.
Ahsoka stood up and muttered something about going to the bathroom. She weaved through the small crowd of bustling people and droids, her cloak flowing behind her as she went. Ahsoka had started wearing her cloak a lot now; which Anakin was glad about, but seeing her wear it nearly all the time was…different. Anakin knew why, of course, Ahsoka hadn't told him, but it was kind of obvious. She wanted to hide her scars, as people often stared at the damaged body of his little Padawan. Her back was the worst; the burns had left horrible marks. And Ahsoka hated it. So, to cover her back – which was pretty much bare most of the time – she wore her Jedi Cloak, which she used to hate with her life.
Usually the young Padawan loved getting all the attention. Being a Togruta, Ahsoka really enjoyed being around other people. But she hated getting attention what she didn't want, which was people staring and asking about her scars. She didn't mind it from her friends – Anakin, Padme, Obi-Wan, Rex – but strangers would point and whisper and it was not only irritating, but hurtful in a way. It reminded her of everything that happened, everything she had been through.
Anakin was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the same droid place two drinks on the table. He didn't bother to thank it; it was a droid. Astromech's were different though, because Artoo acted like he had real feelings, and he treated him like he really did.
The Togruta teenager was back a few minutes later, glaring at a large, muscular man who had walked past and nearly knocked the petite child off her feet.
She groaned, "When's the food gonna be here, Master?" She sat down opposite him. She picked up her drink and took a large sip.
"Have patience, my young Padawan."
"Hypocrite, when have you ever had patience?"
He didn't answer, just stared – more like glared – at his cheeky apprentice.
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"Goodnight, Ahsoka." Anakin said, patting Ahsoka on the back as she walked into her room.
"Night, Master." Ahsoka mumbled, rubbing her sleepy blue eyes. As soon as she got back to the Temple, she suddenly felt exhausted and tired. So, she informed her Master that she was going to get some sleep. After her door shut behind her, she slipped out of her clothes and slung them in the corner, too tired to fold them up or put them in the wash. She changed into her night clothes and curled up on her small bed. She quickly drifted off to sleep.
But she didn't know about the terrible nightmares that would plague her tonight…
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Well, what did you think? Did you like? Yeah, like most Ahsoka stories now, this one is going to lead into ROTS. She'll obviously have THAT nightmare, you know what nightmare I mean. If not, *Cough cough Mustafar cough cough* But you guys probably already knew that XD Anyway, please review! Oh, I'm going to be deleting one or two of my stories, because I'm not to proud of them Oh well, PLEASE REVIEW!