So, after a Star Wars marathon, my best friend and I decided that I am Barriss and she is Ahsoka. We went all out, changing names in phones, calling each other the names, doodling funny moments of our lives in Star Wars style. After drawing a really funny picture entitled "Tanning", I decided to have a story with each chapter inspired by a different picture.

The picture for this chapter is on deviantArt. ZoeMaddox is the profile name and "Tanning" is the title.

Thanks, Ahsoka! You deserve these for being the best sister ever. Love ya, girl!

Enjoy!

Thank you,

Zoe Maddox

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Chapter One: Tanning

I pull my cloak over my eyes and make sure that it is still safely folded across my chest. I clutch a few datapads and my commlink to my chest and I try to keep my head down. I'm sure I look suspicious as hell and I'll probably be more likely to be caught this way, but I'm not sure how to "act naturally" as Ahsoka had put it. She's the daring one; I'm just the one with the plan. And making sure that we don't die. Seems like that's how it always goes.

I take the lift to the top of the Jedi Temple, fiddling with my commlink and trying to read the information I brought with me with one the datapads. But I'm too nervous to concentrate. I tap my foot, bite my lip, and think about all the trouble I'll get in if Master Unduli finds out what I'm up to or if I get caught. It hadn't been my idea; these little adventures were always Ahsoka's ideas. Don't get me wrong, they were always fun and I always appreciated the way they took my mind off the War, but something in the back of my head asks how long until we get caught or until something goes wrong.

The lift opens and I carefully avoid the lightsaber classes being held. I inch along the wall and when I pass into the trees, I run, my cloak flowing behind me. When I come to the place in the wall with a small purple flower potted in front of it, I flip up onto the wall. About thirty feet away from me, sprawled across a towel with a brilliant blue bikini on, is Ahsoka. She's laying on a towel with the Republic symbol on it and her lightsabers lie next to her head. She doesn't open her eyes, but I see a small smirk cross her face.

"You're late." She says.

I lay my towel with the Jedi Order symbol on it and place my commlink and datapads next to it. As I'm unhooking my lightsaber from my bikini bottom, Ahsoka sits up and opens her eyes. She looks me over and raises her eyebrow at my datapads. She points to my cloak.

"You can't tan in that."

I blush. I'm modest to the point of insanity. I mean I wear tank tops and shorts for working out and if there's an occasion, but my regular robes cover everything except my face and hands. I'm not used to showing my body. Ahsoka couldn't care less. She's confident in a way I wish I could be.

"Come on, Barr. You promised." She pouts.

"Fine." I growl and pull off my cloak. Ahsoka nods at my bikini and lies back down and closes her eyes. I follow the suit. Ahsoka chuckles to herself.

"What?" I ask. I have a feeling this is going to be good. Ahsoka is always hilarious.

"Overachiever!" she says.

"WTF!?" I say, opening my right eye and glaring at her.

She just laughs and I close my eye, waiting for her to explain.

"Only you, Barriss. You're the only Jedi who would bring datapads with you to a tanning party." She giggles.

I blush and giggle a little to myself. "Yeah, I guess. It was my way of making up for skipping."

My mind thinks back to yesterday when the plan went down. Ahsoka and I had been walking back from lunch to studies yesterday when her face lit up and her eyes glinted with what could only be another "plan" of hers. I had internally grimaced a little, but I smiled back.

"Barr, I have an idea…" She had muttered and I knew that we were definitely going to be doing something against the rules.

"Tomorrow, we have a study session in the Archives after lunch, right?" She had asked.

I nodded. She knew that I have the schedule memorized. Having a strict master such as Master Unduli can be beneficial at times.

"Let's skip it and tan on the roof." She suggested.

My mouth had almost fallen to the floor. We had broken the rules before and done some pretty daring things, but this was preposterous. Skipping a study session to… Tan? Something so girly and absurd… Could Mirialans or Togrutas even tan? I almost couldn't believe she had suggested it. Then I realized who I was talking to. I swallowed hard, making a small gulping sound that Ahsoka smirked at.

"Leave lunch a little early and change into your bikini…" She paused and her tattooed eyebrow rose a bit, "…if you have one. Then leave for the place above the purple flower where we watched the falling stars last time."

I shot her a dirty look at her comment at me having a bikini and then I nodded very slightly when she had finished showing I knew where she was talking about. We made it to the small classroom where we were to spend the rest of our afternoon learning.

"Just don't get caught." Ahsoka had whispered as we entered the classroom and took our seats.

And I hadn't. I had done everything my sister from another planet had told me to. I had finished early with my lunch and slipped away to my quarters. After I had changed, I put on a thick cloak and grabbed my studies and commlink. Then, after taking a deep breath or two, I stepped out of my quarters and made my way here.

"So, how's your man?" Ahsoka asks. I realize I've been pretty silent the last few minutes thinking about yesterday and getting here. It's customary for us to ask each other at some point in our conversation how our man is doing. Even if it's not the first thing or the last thing we talk about, it always and probably will always come up at one point in the conversation.

"Haven't seen him in a while. I talked to him for a bit on the Holonet, but it was just friendly talk."

Cody and I are… complicated. No two ways to put it. We talked for a while and then he mostly cut it off. Now it's just friendly talk once in a while. I'm just glad I don't have to see him every day and know my feelings aren't exactly being returned.

"Oh." It's all she can really say. She knows I'm bummed and we've already talked about everything there is to talk to him about.

"Yeah." I sigh. "And how about Lux?"

"It's going great! We talk almost every day. And I always make sure to tell him goodnight." She spurts with enthusiasm. I smile. Ahsoka is always so excited and happy and it always rubs off on me.

We spend the rest of the afternoon either in blissful silence or talking. Mostly talking. We have so much to say we often talk over each other, even though we see one another almost every day and tell each other everything. After talking for a few hours, we lapse into silence. Just as I'm drifting off into the first layers of sleep, a thought comes to my head.

"Ahsoka?" I say.

"Yeah?" She sounds a bit disgruntled like she was almost asleep herself.

"Don't ever stop being yourself. You are truly amazing. Thanks for being my pal." I say.

She chuckles softly and I see a smile spreading across the profile of her face that is bathed in sunlight.

"Of course, Barr." She says. A satisfied smile crosses my lips as I close my eyes once again and let the sunlight kiss my pale green skin.

We might actually survive this war.

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I hope you enjoyed! Please take a moment and leave a review! It makes all the difference. Another chapter along with a drawing will be up soon! Make sure you look at the drawing too!

Thank you,

Zoe Maddox