Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Star Wars. Or the Jedi Apprentice book series which I am using to write this fic.

Yeah . . . I saw a few errors last chapter . . .

Like Soujiro saying that he wanted to be Okina's student right after he said he wanted to impress Shishio.

And some other grammatical mistakes, but that was about it.

XXXXX

The group reached the lake; Soujiro almost immediately dived in, along with Kaoru. They laughed as they splashed each other and Kenshin. Kenshin, now soaking wet, decided to go in, too. Aoshi watched, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

One week. Aoshi had one week to train to become worthy enough to make an impression for a Master. Physically and mentally. Aoshi was pretty confident his light saber skills were up to par, but he could never know if his mind was ready. The masters at the temple always reminded the students to be mindful, not to get angry and other things like that. It was repeated over and over again until the masters felt that the message had been etched into the students' brain, then they repeated it again.

Aoshi considered meditating on the spot, but he didn't want to spoil his friends' fun.

"Aoshi!"

Maybe they wouldn't notice . . .

"Aoshi!"

Would they care?

"Hey!"

Aoshi jerked slightly as cold water was splashed on him.

"You awake yet?" Kenshin asked. "You were zoning out, that you were."

Ah, yes. "That you were". Most people were convinced it came from hanging around Master Yoda for too long. It was basically the same thing; except Kenshin added a 'that'.

More water was splashed on Aoshi.

"What about now?" Kenshin asked with a grin.

"What?" Aoshi asked.

"You were spacing out," Kenshin told him.

"You were all funny looking!" Soujiro laughed. He grinned. "So much for not getting wet."

Aoshi looked down at his tunic. It was wet – not drenched – just wet.

"It'll dry," Aoshi said.

They stayed there for a while; maybe an hour or so. Kenshin, Kaoru, and Soujiro got out of the lake and had lain on the grass. The four talked about things the rest of the time. Nothing important, just things like something stupid a student did in the dining hall and such.

Then Kenshin had to leave. "See you guys later. I have stillness exercises."

"Have fun," Kaoru said sarcastically. The three remaining students sat in silence for a while.

"So . . . What do we do know?" Soujiro asked. Kaoru sighed.

"Now you ask that?"

Soujiro shrugged. Aoshi stood up and brushed his tunic of any grass on his back.

"Well, I'm going. You two have fun by yourselves." With that, Aoshi left and took the lift tube back up.

"Do you have any idea where he's going?" Kaoru asked.

Soujiro shrugged again. "I really don't know. He always leaves around this time."

"Every day?"

"Yeah . . ."

Kaoru played with a blade of grass in her hand. The put the piece of grass back down and laid and her back. She stared at the simulated sun at the top of the tall room and sighed dreamily. Kaoru smiled and closed her eyes. "It's so peaceful down here."

"It is," Soujiro agreed.

". . . Now what?"

"Now you ask that?"

"Soujiro!"

XXXXX

Aoshi went here everyday. Everyday . . . So often that Aoshi could come here without even thinking about it.

The child care center . . . It was the place that they generally had the new arrivals brought. Aoshi was pretty sure that it was at about the age of 5 that they went to the actual training. Anyway, the person he was going to see was about 4. He knew once she became 5 it'd be hard to come in contact with her. The younger students always had the most crammed schedules.

Aoshi mentally kicked himself at that thought. He'd be thirteen before she would turn 5! He frowned as he was reminded of that. He'd COME here to NOT think about that.

He walked through a few hallways until he came across a familiar door. It opened and a short, young, black-haired girl smiled widely at Aoshi's arrival.

"Aoshi-sama!" This is what she called him. On the planet that she came from, when 'sama' was added to the end of a person's last name, it showed great respect for the person. There were several others too.

"Hello, Misao-chan." Aoshi really never understood it, but Misao always insisted that he call her 'chan'. He figured it meant to address someone younger than you. Aoshi wasn't really sure though.

"Come, Aoshi-sama! Misao-chan gots lots of papers for Aoshi-sama to fold! They colorful!" she said happily. Aoshi nodded as Misao grabbed his hand and pulled him inside. She had a little table with two little chairs. She directed Aoshi to one of them . . . again, then she sat in her own. On the table were small, square, different colored paper.

"What shall we make, Misao-chan?"

"Birds! Birds!"

The two sat there for hours; each making cranes. Aoshi's a lot . . . better than Misao's. They made a 'pile' of the paper cranes they finished. Misao named each one of them with strange, foreign names like, "Matthew" or "Sarah". (A/N It's a JOKE)

Then they made other things like frogs, flowers, and other types of animals. Aoshi actually made a crude ship.

Time passed, and Misao sighed as a low toned 'beeeep' was sounded. Dinner.

"Aoshi-sama has to go now . . ." she said.

"I'll be back tomorrow," Aoshi reassured her. Misao brightened.

"I know! Misao-chan getting smart Aoshi-sama!" she replied.

Aoshi fought the urge to smile at the youth's innocence. He said goodbye and left to the dining hall. It wasn't far. It was basically right next to the center.

He got his food and sat down at the table that he and his friends would usually sit at. Soujiro and Kaoru eventually joined him and Kenshin even later. Each table was talking about the arriving Masters. Sometimes, people would glance over at Aoshi. They knew how old he was. They knew that this would be his last chance.

Aoshi inwardly sighed. He had to force himself to eat.

"Hey, Aoshi where'd you go today?" Kaoru asked. Soujiro gave her a warning glance and hit her elbow with his own. "Ow! What?"

The two started bickering about Kaoru being "too nosy for her own good".

"Now, now, you two . . ." Kenshin said.

Dinner passed, everyone went to bed. Aoshi knew: Tomorrow would be day one of his training.

XXXXX

There's you short chapter. No, seriously. I'm waiting for more reviews. But I still gotta update, right?