~Plot~ At the beginning of her apprenticeship, Anakin tries to teach Ahsoka to shield her mind better. Little does he know that one day he'd wish he could so early peruse her thoughts. Oneshot. Shameless fluff.

Shields

Bounce. "Master." Bounce.

Bounce. Whine. "Skyguy!"

Anakin sighed, opening one blue eye warily to regard his newly-minted Padawan. He internally groaned; the child was still fresh-eyed and eager, with a fair amount of snark and sass to boot. When particularly emotionally charged, he had learned that the girl had the knack of spilling all of her feelings into the Force so that everyone could perceive them.

The child's innocence and naiveté was somewhat refreshing to the war-hardened Jedi Knight, but he wasn't necessarily looking forward to watching her potentially die within the next few months in a war-torn galaxy (she was so reckless and so inexperienced), though he was sure as hell going to try and keep her standing. Maybe he could prove to the Council that he could keep the little Togruta alive longer than he was sure they were betting. He snorted to himself; of course they had tossed the experienced, yet undisciplined, child at him. Let her death teach him about attachment, or whatever lesson they were trying to pound into his thick skull. Well. Snippy and rough as she was, she bled compassion, talent, fierce bravery, and empathy, traits that he found admirable.

And much as he even liked the tiny young teenager, he truly struggled to sleep as it was, and her she was, at his bedside, bouncing lightly on her toes eagerly.

Bounce. "MASTER!" She prodded his shoulder, impatience flooding his mind. He groaned out loud and rolled over, opening his eyes to stare at the girl.

Perhaps he looked somewhat intimidating, because Ahsoka started gnawing on her lip and he could pick out her nervousness as well as a nearly vocal rumination as to whether he was mad or not. "What?" He groused. "And for force sakes, Snips, shields. Anyone can hear you right now."

"Sorry." The girl apologized, sounding affronted, "But my shields are up, Master."

"Whatever." He replied. "So, why're you in here at –" he glanced at his chrono, "- seven in the morning?"

The girl resumed her bouncing and sent him a wide-toothed and nearly wicked grin, "You promised to take me sparring this morning, Master!"

Anakin's jaw dropped, "Not at seven!" He buried his face into his pillow and mumbled, "Wake me in an hour or something."

The wicked grin turned into an annoyed scowl, and she turned around, flouncing out, "You never specified the time. Don't be mad at me."

A few days later, Anakin found himself complaining to his former Master that he thought the whole galaxy could hear her projecting some of her emotions and thoughts. "I mean, Master, it's like nobody even taught her. She's a temple child."

Obi-Wan sighed, "Yes, Anakin. And you're wrong – I can't hear the emotions so clearly as you can. She's unused to the training bond you two are supposed to have."

"Whatever." Anakin slouched, tinkering with robotic arm, "Are all temple kids like this?"

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and turned his back so that Anakin could not see how exasperated that he was with his former student, "No, Anakin, I'd say it's a mix of her never being in a war before – it's a change, there's bound to be an effect on her emotions – a need to please you, the fact that she's never had to learn how to shield from her teacher before, and the fact that you've got a massive midi-chlorian count."

"She'll learn, right?" Anakin asked, "Soon? She's so young, Master, and it's not a problem, I just want her to learn to stay focused."

"Oh, she'll learn, all right. After all, you did, and I'm sure you were much worse than she is." Obi-Wan said wryly, "And you will seriously regret it when she does. And just so you know, Oh, Great Master Skywalker, you will learn from her that you still aren't the world's best at masking your emotions, either."

"Whatever." Anakin huffed again, and left the room.

A few days later, Anakin and Ahsoka were sparring. It was only the third session they'd had together, and Anakin was stunned to find that her shields were harnessed tightly around her emotions and thoughts. Her emotions were perceptible due to her fighting style; anger leapt at him as she pounced and scurried around his highly trained form, her lightsaber illuminating the sweat staining her youthful face.

When she attacked in a flurry of swift and snarling parries, he unwittingly reached into her mind; a tiny bit of rejection jumped at him before he was forced out of her head by a swift strike to his arm by her training sabre. "I win." She announced unremorsefully, powering down her weapon. She looked at him smugly before clipping it to her belt.

Annoyed, Anakin knew something was bothering her now. Did he go after her or let her blow off some steam or…? Teaching was something entirely knew to him, after all.

She was looking at him smartly, waiting for his reaction. He sighed, "What's eating you, Snips?"

"I heard you talking to Obi-Wan." The girl blurted, blue eyes furrowed, "You don't think much of me because I'm a 'temple kid', do you?" She sounded hurt, but at least the prowess and anger in her match against him made more sense now. It was another wild attempt to prove herself to him.

Angry with himself – he was really getting this teaching thing down pat – he swore mentally in a dozen of outer rim languages before collecting his thoughts and words. "Snips." He said carefully. "I'm not gonna send you back because I could feel your emotions. I didn't realize that it's because you're young and Master Obi-Wan said that I was similar. You'll learn in time. You don't have to exhaust yourself shielding everything, either, Young One." Ahsoka breathed out an audible sigh of relief, rubbing her forehead.

Anakin smiled, and patted her shoulder, "You'll do alright."

"Thanks, Skyguy." She smiled, revealing her sharp, white, predatory teeth. Then, without warning, she asked what an incredibly vulgar outer-rim phrase that he had never expected to hear from her meant.

"Where did you hear that?" He demanded, eyes narrowed. Okay, she had been his Padawan for three weeks now, and this is what he was getting? Where was she going? Did he need to worry?

"You were projecting a little loudly." She shrugged innocently. "It's up to you whether you worry or not." That wicked grin plastered her facial features as Anakin swore, kriff!

"I better never, ever hear you say that phrase again, Padawan, do you understand me? I will get in so much trouble as a Master."

"Whatever." The girl smiled, igniting her lightsaber, "But only if I lose in a 2-3?"

A few years later, Anakin stood on the opposite side of her. Their training bond had strengthened as training bonds are wont to do, and they could communicate mentally when in range. They could feel each other's surface emotions spike and pulse through the Force (unless one of the pair was annoyed with the other and chose to shield themselves), but not read the deeper emotions or thoughts. The bond hummed with each of their existence's.

But when Anakin ignited his training sabre for another lesson of thousands, he reached out to touch her mind and came up blank. She smirked, feeling his touch (once upon a time, he could access her head without her knowledge) and ignited her two sabres. "Best two out of three?" She queried, her face revealing nothing.

"You're on, Snips."

Yeah, she was on alright. But he sort of wished he could still read her like a book. "Master, your focus belongs here and now!" She demanded in a teasing tone as she swirled her lightsaber into his arm and sighed, "That was too easy." Pause, "And I thought that phrase was never to be heard again?"

Anakin tightened his shields and looked at her, tugging a lek gently and teasingly, "I thought it was rude to pry, young one. And I said you couldn't say that phrase, not me. Ready?"

"Of course." The chipper girl replied.

It had been a long time since he had felt that presence brush his mind. And it was unbearably difficult to hear the curse words he had so jokingly forbade her not to utter flash through their broken and crippled bond before being accompanied by a scream. Her presence disappeared into the void again, but there she had been.

Hey everyone *waves*!

I still apparently love Anakin/Ahsoka fluffiness and I had these ideas for a series of one-shots, titled Shields, Longer, Etiquette, and Healing.

You can hold me to it, and I might get back to it in a million years *cough*. Sorry. I also wanted to do one with Rex and Ahsoka called 'Reunion' because that scene in Rebels was so darn cute.

~HS1