Chapter Seven: Training and Talking

Author's note: Again so sorry for accidently reposting chapter two instead of chapter six! Thank you Snips1212 for telling me that! I changed it as soon as I woke up this morning and saw that. On another note this is just like an easy going chapter. I will update as much as I can however, I am moving soon so there will be about a week where I cannot update and for that I am sorry. Also this is kinda just a little bonding chapter for them and then it will progress in later chapters. I hope you like it and may the force be with you.

Ahsoka and Anakin were on a little bit of a break however, they were still on the Republic cruiser. Anakin woke up before his young Padawan as he usually did and decided to let her sleep in a little as he went to the refresher and then the mess hall. About an hour or so later when he came back she had just gotten out of the refresher herself and her, being nice and all accompanied her to the mess hall. In the couple of months that they he had started teaching her they became a powerhouse team. Having said this and all the battles they were going into they hadn't done a lot of training besides a little bit here and there. So that's what they decided to do today. After she ate they went to the training room where there were some other clones. Anakin held out a blindfold as a challenge to knock him down before he knocked her down. She smirked and he stood behind her and tied it around her eyes.

"Prepare to fall on your ass Skyguy." She taunted as her removed her light saber and placed them aside. They didn't need anyone getting too badly hurt. Anakin smirked and walked around her in a slow circle watching as she didn't move or really react. He still hadn't asked or bothered to look up things about Togruta. He wanted to see if he could figure it all out on his own. Anakin paused and noticed his boots made a lot of noise so he took them off as Ahsoka still stood there calmly.

"You know the rules Snips, sense where I am and try to knock me down. You may use the force to do so but not to try and attack me, got it?" he asked and she nodded then smirked. He made one step towards her and she reacted taking a step away. He smirked and it started. He would walk around or make a few motions and finally move to attack. However, every time it was almost like she already knew he was coming and either dodged with a jump, roll, or a flip. She sometimes attacked, not knocking him on the ground; she hit a pressure point somewhere in an effort to slow him down and then strike. Anakin noticed that she didn't always hit the points, his chest plate helped him out a little but when she did he would know because his whole body would go slightly numb for a few moments. He watched her movements, she was very fluid in her motions, her steps and jumps almost seemed as one action not two. The same with her rolls and flips. He found himself almost transfixed as he made moved to go after her. The way her body turned, they were both attacking with the intention to knock the other down, and it showed.

Soon after about 10 minutes of this, almost dance-like thing, they were both beginning to work up a slight sweat, Anakin more than Ahsoka. Her flexibility and agility had some of the other clones watching after they were done with their workouts. Anakin paid no mind to them but saw, as about 10 or more gathered, Ahsoka smirked. She decided to put on a little show and flipped backwards towards the edge of the mats and grabbed a practice saber, it was in a sense, a stick with some foam around it. She tossed one towards Anakin who caught it and gave her a funny look than remembered that she couldn't see him and smirked. This was something they hadn't done and it was probably a good idea to do it anyway. The movements that she presented him with were difficult to trace as he defended her blows.

"You sure you can't see a thing Snips?" he asked trying to catch her off guard as she jumped backwards again right before he was going to try and trip her.

"Not a damn thing Skyguy." She smirked, Ahsoka had started talking more like the clones, understandable when she did spend a lot of time surrounded by them, and her language had evolved to include a curse every now and again. Anakin sighed and went after her again, they had different fighting styles but together they seemed to work. More clones gathered to watch the interesting show and finally Ahsoka caught him off guard by mimicking his style, she didn't like it and wouldn't do it in battle but it did confused him for a moment, long enough to flip and hit a pressure point before landing behind him and spinning, using her leg to knock him over as the practice saber was held in her usual vice grip. Anakin fell right on his butt and heard sounds of slight shock from the clones. Ahsoka removed her blindfold and stood up smirking.

"Told you Skyguy" she said and put the practice saber away. Anakin stood up and then in an effort to teach a lesson, grabbed her and held her in an arm lock, she struggled to move but couldn't, he over powered her. Anakin smirked and forced her to her knees standing behind her and placed his face next to hers.

"Don't let your guard down little one" he said and let her up. She looked at him and moved her arms around. The clones that were watching soon scattered a bit and they were the only ones in the training area.

"I'm impressed Snips, you actually knocked me down." He said and handed her back her weapon. She smiled.

"Thanks, you weren't so bad yourself." Soon the pair went back to their room and meditated for a while. Anakin finally decided to ask as they still sat lotus style on the floor.

"Hey Ahsoka, I was wondering if you could answer some questions." He asked seeing her eyes open slowly, they turned to face one another.

"Sure what's up Skyguy?" she asked

"I don't actually know much about Togruta…" he admitted and she laughed lightly.

"I see so what do you want to know?" she asked and looked at him curiously.

"Um well first would be your Lekku…" he thought how to phrase that as she tilted her head.

"Alright…" she continued. "Togruta usually have three Lekku and in rare cases some have four." She started as he listened. "They don't finish growing for a while, I mean look at Master Ti." She smiled. "The back one grows slower and the front ones are usually longer…" she paused for a moment. "The blue ranges in different shades, they also change color a bit depending on our emotions." He explained and he nodded remembering how he had noticed that before. "Also, they are very…" she paused. "Sensitive to things, if one if injured or even pulled hard enough it can cause a lot of damage. Because of that Togruta are very sensitive to things like electric shock… it can really mess us up. Having said that, certain touches, usually soft ones, give Togruta certain… feelings." She blushed and her Lekku changed as she was embarrassed.

"What do you mean?" he asked confused.

"Just don't do that to me ok…" she looked at him and he got it causing him to blush lightly as well.

"Got it." He said and thought of another. "What about your Montrals?" he asked looking at them.

"We use our Montrals to sense what is around us, it's how we hunt and hear. It's why I'm so good at kicking your butt blindfolded." She smirked and he looked at her and chuckled. "They grow over time as well." She added.

"The head dress?" he asked he could tell they were some sort of teeth but he didn't know what.

"They are made from Akul teeth… on Shili Togruta hunt them." she explained looking at him. "They are very dangerous, practically deadly especially to other species." She explained "Over many years Togruta have grown a slight natural immunity to them, though we still feel the effects it does not usually kill us."

"So what you made it at random?" he asked she giggled and shook her head.

"No, when I was 9 Master Ti and Master Plo took me back to Shili, Togruta are one of the oldest species to have been force sensitive. Killing an Akul and wearing their teeth as a headdress is a rite of passage for a force sensitive Togruta, you usually kill one when you turn 13 but…" she paused and looked down "For a lot of different reasons I begged to kill one early…" she looked up at him again and smiled "But I did it, I remember how worried they both were, they couldn't follow me into the fields they just had to wait." Anakin could tell that for the moment she didn't want to go deeper into the matter of why she did what she did early.

"Alright what about Shili, what's it like." He asked she smiled

"There are many villages of Togruta and there are also cities. There are fields covered with turu-grass, it's about a meter high and it's where the Akul usually live. One side is white and the other is red so we, and some other species blend into it really well." She smiled. "We have only one Sun but six moons. Most of the villages are made in the rainforests."

"That's pretty cool… what about you know how they live?" he asked

"We are very loyal species… we are loyal to our family members, our village members, and very loyal to our mates…" she paused. "We are all connected, Master Ti and I have become very close and in being the same species it is like we are on a separate network… the same goes with some of the Togrutan younglings… it is as if we have formed our own little village." She smiled fondly. "We always seem to have an idea what is going on with our own."

"Is it true that you're poisonous?" he asked it was a rumor he grew up hearing and Ahsoka laughed.

"No, it was started based on what the natives of Shili hunted and ate however, we didn't say they were wrong, it kept people from messing with us." She laughed and he shook his head.

"What else?"

"Well, Togruta males are the ones that hunt whereas the females stay in the village. Because village members are so connected the children are raised communally, mothers band together and take care of all the children. Though the females do not usually hunt we are taught to do so, and fight. In the rare case that the hunting party is unable to hunt the females then go out and the roles are reversed for a while. Males outrank the females in some cases yet when a female is with child they are taken care of very well. Togruta mate for life, if one dies the other usually grieves and follows after them… it can feel like a part of them has been ripped away and the pain can be… unbearable." He Lekku darkened as her voice grew sad.

"Loyal creatures indeed…" he mused softly.

"Over time a mated pair are so connected that if one if even a little bit upset the other knows right away. If a male is being attacked and his mate does not at least try to help him, and he dies, she is shunned in a way… the others block her out and the female usually leaves or dies. However, if a female protects her mate and saves him she is considered a hero and cherished for a long time…" Ahsoka smiled and Anakin matched it looking at her.

"What about the face markings?" he asked looking at her

"Each one if different, they never repeat, they could be similar but not repeat." She said. "Sometimes as we grow older we get more white markings on our bodies. The villages record our face markings when we are born it is how they know if a Togruta is a member of that village if they are lost." She said they shared a few more things and then went off to do some other things. Anakin was glad that he asked and that Ahsoka was so opened about it all. He wondered how she would grow and changed over the years.

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed it. Some of this info I got online from Wookieepedia, others I made up (like the face markings, mates, etc.). Also another note, I got the idea for the entire mother's raising all the children from a school assignment, I had to research a native tribe that survived the Tsunami called the Great Andamanese tribe. So I feel that, to be respectful, I should give them credit for helping me out with this. However if someone can find something that corrects what I said about the things I made up, please tell me and I will either change it and or give credit where credit is due. Thank you and I hope you enjoyed this.

-GigglingGothGirl