POV: Ahsoka Tano

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" I asked as I stared at his back.

He spun around quickly, a look of shock crossing his expression. "What? No!"

"Then why did the droid say –"

"I take pain relievers because I'm frequently in pain."

I frowned at him, crossing my arms over my chest. "Like you said, if you think I'm kriffing buying that excuse, you're wrong."

"Hey," he whispered angrily. "Don't say that."

"I know what it means."

"You watch your mouth little one."

"I… never mind." This was my first day as his Padawan and I was already failing him and myself. I stared down at the carpeted floor, imagining him shoving me out of the dorm, telling me that I'd be better off as a slave.

He sighed and I glanced up at him. He came towards me, frowning. "Just take these okay?"

He lightly took my hand and placed two small tablets in it. "And Ahsoka, I'm not forbidding you from speaking your mind. I just don't want your words to be as… colored as mine. I'd probably get in trouble for it."

I put the tablets in my mouth and swallowed them before looking up at him. "I don't want to disrespect you, Master."

"I'm six years older than you. I don't think you can really disrespect me," he laughed. I watched his smile falter as he stared at me. He sighed, turning his head. "I'm going to be slightly honest with you here. I'm not trying to kill myself, but I am taking too many tablets. The things under my bed, they're illegal. Don't ask questions; just don't touch anything under there, okay?"

I gaped at him. "By the look on your face, I assume you won't be attempting to take anything from me anytime soon."

I was curious as to what he might be hiding under his bed, but I couldn't let him down. I'd let myself and my family down already…

"What's wrong, Ahsoka?"

"Nothing," I whispered. I turned away from him and went back over to my bed, plopping down onto it. I faced the wall, forcing him to stare at my back. I closed my eyes and silently began to cry. This had become a daily routine for me.

The pain I felt right now was so intense that I almost had a hard time covering it up in the Force. My lekku and montrals were sore from being tugged and hit, my stomach growled of starvation because those younglings always took my food, and my hips were covered with scars that I could hide.

"Are you okay?"

His soft, yet very deep, voice made me jump. I realized too late that I had been rubbing my hip. I turned over to face him. He looked concerned – just like the others…

He was no different.

I knew that he would betray me in the end. I could trust no one with my secrets, yet I had stupidly opened myself up to him. His voice drew me in and I didn't like it one bit. I wanted to keep myself locked away so I didn't have the adults always watching me.

He walked over to me, kneeling down beside the bed. "What's wrong right here?" he whispered, lightly tapping my hip.

I jerked away from him, curling into a defensive ball.

I felt him crawl over me and I instantly felt afraid. Images began to flash in my head. I saw the Twi'lek boy that tried to rape me hovering above my naked body. I had been tied to the bed and gagged. No one could hear my pleas…

I screamed, holding my montrals. I felt like I was in pain, but there was nothing injuring me. My Master gripped me tightly, whispering my name over and over. What he didn't know was that his voice brought the worst part of the entire scene back into my mind.

That boy… he'd screamed at me, hitting me. He told me to be quiet, but I couldn't. I was so afraid to be around any man because of that night. It was even difficult being around the Masters because I knew that they were stronger than me and I was too vulnerable.

"Ahsoka, it's just me!" he whispered, his voice pained. I opened my eyes to see a blurry vision of my Master. "It's me, Ahsoka. I promise that I'm not going to hurt you. No one is going to hurt you. I'm so sorry."

I began to hyperventilate as I cried. He tried to comfort me by speaking, but that only made it worse. I just wanted to be left alone, but he wouldn't understand. Humans think that contact comforts the other individual. Not in my case. His touching me – no matter how lightly he was doing so – had caused me to fall further into my fear.

He lightly stroked my cheek. "It's me. It's Anakin," he whispered. "Don't cry, please. I don't want you to be afraid. Please…"

I pulled away from him, running into the refresher. The door hissed behind me and I immediately locked it. I heard him trying to get in and I screamed, falling to the floor. I held the sides of my montrals in my hands, shutting my eyes tightly.

I heard the door slide open and his footsteps come closer to me. He grabbed my hand lightly, trying to stop me from clawing myself to death. I opened my eyes, searching quickly for some sharp object. He had a knife in a compartment above the sink.

I pushed him away from me and jumped up, running to the sink. I grabbed the knife and instantly began to slash at my hip through my clothing. "What the hell are you doing?" he screamed.

Before I knew it, the knife was pulled away from my hands and thrown across the tiled floor. He grabbed my wrists, slamming me into a wall. "You can't do this to yourself, Ahsoka! What the hell were you thinking?"

I stared up into his blue eyes. He looked so hurt and confused, breathing heavily in my face. "I want to help you. Don't be afraid of me," he whispered.

He slowly began to release my wrists, staring at me. I knew he was searching for some sign of my insanity and he didn't find it. He let me go and knelt down in front of me. I almost screamed again, but I realized that this was someone who truly cared about me.

I couldn't imagine what all my previous screaming had done to him. He told me that I could trust him. I just didn't know if I could. I'd never trusted anyone because I always got hurt.

He carefully pulled the cloth away from my hip – and only my hip. I felt his gloved fingers trace the scars that I'd embedded into myself many months – even years – ago. "It's a wonder you haven't killed yourself," he whispered incredulously.

I fell to the floor and he caught me before I could do any further damage to myself. "All right, so no sharp objects around you. Is there anything else I need to see or know?"

I stared up at him, exhausted. "My arms," I whispered.

He gently touched my arms, silently asking me for permission to lift the sleeves. I nodded, closing my eyes. I felt the sleeves slowly roll up and I heard his low gasp. He pulled me up, tugging on my hands. "We're getting you help right now."

"No!" I screamed, trying to pull out of his grip. "You can't! Please, no!"

He continued to pull me out of the refresher and through the lounging area. "I promise I'll stop if you don't do this!"

He spun around, not releasing my wrist. "You promise?"

"I do."

"If I see one more mark, one more scar –"

"I promise means I'm going through with my words. Just please don't take me there. I've only just met you and I know you'll take care of me. Please, just give me time to heal. I don't want to leave the temple because of this. I'm not crazy. I'm not…"

"I never said you were crazy, Ahsoka. If you break this promise, I'm going to take you directly to the Council. I do not want to see you hurt yourself. I don't want to see anymore cuts on your skin. You're a beautiful girl on the inside and out. Don't do this to yourself. You're so young and you have so much to live for in life. I know right now might seem pretty bad, but it's time for a change."

I looked down at the floor. "I'm going to get you through this. I just need you to cooperate with me. You need to trust me. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not like those younglings that tormented you. I'm –"

"The Chosen One."

He frowned deeply. "No, I'm not. I'm your friend. I don't want to see your corpse when I wake up in the morning. Do you think you can make it through the night?"

I nodded, smiling at him appreciatively. "Can… can I ask for something?"

"That depends on what you're going to ask me for," he whispered, his eyebrow rising.

"Can I get something to eat? I haven't eaten in days…"

He looked down at my hip. "Well, I need to find you something less revealing to wear before I take you out there. Do me a favor, okay? Go into the refresher and wash the blood away. I'm going to sneak into someone's dorm and find you something to wear. I'll be right back."

I gripped his wrist tightly. "You can't leave me here."

"I'll lock the door. I promise that you'll be safe, Ahsoka. I'm just going down the hall into Master Secura's dorm."

I let him go – very reluctantly. He stared at me as he backed away slowly. "I will be right back, Ahsoka. Go relax in the refresher. I'll –"

"The longer you're in here, the more afraid I'll feel."

He turned around and ran out of the room, heading down the hallway. I heard the door lock behind him and I sighed. I turned and went back into the refresher. I picked up the knife, dropping it into a waste compartment. I turned the sink on and began to soak a rag. I dabbed at my hip, wiping the blood away.

Within moments, there was a knock on the door. "Come in."

He entered, trying his best not to look at me in the case that I might not have my clothes on. "I appreciate your caution, Master, but I still have my clothes on. You can look at me."

He sighed, looking at my hip. I saw his fingers flinch as he continued to stare. "You want to touch me, don't you?"

"Not in that way," he whispered. "I just want to stop the bleeding…"

I moved closer to him, handing him the rag. He turned the faucet so that the water became warmer. Once he was thoroughly impressed with the temperature of the water, he pressed it against my hip lightly. I groaned at the heat, but he kept at it.

"I don't want to hurt you, Ahsoka. I'm –"

"I know, I know. You're just trying to help. I'm not saying that what you're doing is wrong. It just hurts a little…"

"We've both had a rough day," he whispered.

"I hope the rest of our time together isn't like this. I'm so sorry…"

"I shouldn't push you into situations like this. All of this could have been avoided if I'd put two and two together and hadn't attempted to lie down beside you. I'm so kriffing stupid!"

"No, you aren't. Master, you're very compassionate and caring. You didn't think that something so little as that would set me off. I should know better than to act that way…"

"You have all the reason in the galaxy to act the way you do. You've been tormented for however long it's been and now you're forced to trust me because I'm your Master. Well, that's not true. I'm not forcing you to trust me, though I'm hoping you will."

"Never once during my outbursts did you try to assault me or violate me. I think you've earned a bit of my trust…"

He smiled weakly, continuing to dab at my leg. "Thanks, Snips."