AN: Chapter updates are going to be a bit less frequent because I am now taking my exams…badly, I spent all last night revising for my business exam that I was supposed to take earlier today, it turns out that I don't have business today but instead I had Maths…which I didn't revise for but thankfully I understood most of it and I believed I have passed!


Warnings and Fears

Chapter 7

Alexander walked into the room, accompanied by the man that he had conversed with early, the man who had been delegated to bring her friends here…oh, poor him…she'd have to apologise to him for them later, they no doubt gave him hell – hopefully he had enough sense not to say his people had her, that would just start aggressive negotiations.

Closely behind the two angels were the two Jedi: Anakin and Obi-Wan as well as a good proportion of the 7th sky corps and a few from her own legion, the 501st. There seemed to be no losses, which pleased Ahsoka more than it should, everyone on this mission she knew personally – they were handpicked for it as they were the best – she didn't want to lose any of her friends. She knew she had attachments but it were nearly impossible not to, especially when Anakin Skywalker was your Master.

Anakin was looking about quickly, no doubt searching for her, his eyes held the worry and anger that Jedi should not have. Ahsoka looked to her left; there was a conveniently located bush, thick enough to hide a person, if she could just sneak ove-

"Ahsoka!"

There goes that plan. Ahsoka huffed slightly as she stared at the bush…which now seemed to look smug – as smug as possible for a bush – she resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at it. She didn't want to be sectioned.

A speeder collider with her, or that's what it felt like…she gasped slightly as the wind was knocked out of her by the large object which had decided to knocked her out of its trajectory. It took her a few moments to realise that the large object had arms, which were currently squeezing her tightly.

"Master?" Ahsoka attempted to look up but only succeeded in getting a mouth full of robes.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Anakin crouched down in front of his Padawan, shaking her a little. "I thought you been kidnapped or killed…I told you to stick close to me, not wander off at the first opportunity. What were you thinking, Snips? I swear if you had of died I would've killed you!"

Ahsoka didn't even try to make any logic of that sentence because it came from Anakin Skywalkers mouth, there was a general rule regarding Jedi: If he's angry, named Anakin Skywalker and speaking faster than he can drive, don't attempt to make sense of the babble he's spewing.

"You disobeyed me Ahsoka." Ahsoka couldn't help but wince at the disappointment she felt radiating off her Master.

"I didn't think I'd be gone very long." Ahsoka attempted to explain herself.

"You scared me, Snips…when I saw you were gone…" Anakin trailed off. "Don't you ever put me through that again, you hear?"

"But Master, I was investigating…it's our job to check things out, there was…" Ahsoka stopped herself quickly, realising her Master probably didn't know about the cloud thing.

"What?"

"Nothing"

"Don't try lying to me Ahsoka Tano; you're in enough trouble as it is."

"I believe I can explain that." Alexander stepped forwards, his hands neatly folded behind his back.

"No Alexander." Ahsoka scowled darkly at the teenage angel. "You just stay back…way, way back."

Anakin let go of Ahsoka's arms and stood up, a diplomatic face replacing his fearful, parental one almost instantly. "No, please do continue – Alexander is it?"

"Yes Sir." Alexander stepped forwards. "When we found Ahsoka she was could have been killed, I'm sure you've noticed the strange electromagnetic resonance on this planet…it isn't caused by conventional methods but rather a power source on this planet…a sort of stone which seems to create an entity which is what Ahsoka was confronting when we found her. It looks like a black cloud, but it seems to be some kind of creature…one which gets its power source by destroying the electromagnetic field that holds life forms together."

"A force is doing this?" Obi-Wan stroked his beard in astonishment. "How interesting."

"The closer you are to it, the stronger the field and the quicker you crumble into dust…well Ahsoka put her hand into it, completely atomised her arm…her atoms literally just separated and floated…suspended in the cloud." Alexander through a smug look at Ahsoka. "If we hadn't of come when we had, her body wouldn't have been able to handle the strength of the creature…she would have been scattered into atoms."

Anakin's eyes flittered to Ahsoka's arm, he couldn't help but breath out an audible sigh of relief when it looked relatively unscathed…a few cuts and scratched but at least it was still there and not…atomised, whatever the hell that was. He assumed it was bad. Little brat – she enjoyed scaring him, he knew it.

"It wasn't that bad" Ahsoka insisted. "I was gonna' run."

"But you just wanted to stick your arm in it first?" Alexander asked, sounding chipper, smiling innocently at the annoyed Togruta. "Yeah, that was brilliant thinking."

"Is this true, Ahsoka?" Anakin turned to his Padawan

"Well, a little." Anakin narrowed his eyes. "Okay…a lot."

Anakin felt his anger with the child grow; how dare she do something so reckless? How dare she scare him like that? He reacted entirely on instinct and grabbed his Padawans arm, leaning down to growl in her face. "You're staying here; you're not coming on the rest of the mission."

"What?" Ahsoka sounded astonished and slightly insulted. "You can't do that, I'm not a child."

"You are a child" My child, Anakin added silently in his head. He had a job to take care of her and she was making it extremely hard for him, this child was going to be the death of him...he swore it. "I will not have you acting so reckless, I always let things slide which is obviously why you think you can do things like this…well Ahsoka, you need to learn that there are consequences for your actions."

"Bazinga" Alexander whispered, only for Ahsoka to hear.

Ahsoka could only look at Alexander and scowl darkly, already formulating a plan for his painful death in her mind – a very unjedi-like thing to do – but hey, he brings the worst out it her. It was so on. If it was a fight the pretty pigeon wanted, it's a fight he was gonna get. She actually wanted to punch him; if he made one more comment she could not be held responsible for her actions...namely her fist going through his face. Wouldn't be so bloody cocky with a broken nose!

"Young one…" Obi-Wan stepped in before Anakin throttled the teen. "…it was very foolish to wander off like that…and what's worse is that you had an agreement with your Master, you broke that agreement and put yourself in danger and frankly scared the living daylights out of us all, did you not think about the danger you're in?"

"Yes but I got a strange vibe from the force, I was really curious and I know I broke our agreement Master and I'm sorry I worried you all but I was…" Ahsoka tired to find the right word "…curious."

That apparently was the wrong word.

"So let me get this straight, young one…" Obi-Wan was the first to move in, Ahsoka wasn't sure whether it was good thing or not. "…you broke your Master's rules, wandered off and put yourself in danger just to satisfy your curiosity?"

It wasn't a good thing Ahsoka decided, Obi-Wan was fantastic at using a really disappointed tone and expression that made you feel about 6 years old. She could deal with her Master shouting – until he really started getting angry, then he was scary – but she didn't like the disappointed thing, Obi-Wan apparently knew he dislike for his technique which is why he utilised it with her so often; she really shouldn't be so readble. It wasn't good business.

"When you say it like that it sounds really…bad." Ahsoka muttered, hanging her head slightly.

"How can you say it so it sounds good?" Anakin askedin astonishment

Ahsoka bit her lip and looked up, a concentrating expression on her face, before turning her attention back to the 2 annoyed Jedi stood in front of her. A small smile gracing her face as she prepared to put her foot in her mouth and get herself into more trouble, of course she didn't know she was doing that. "I found an interesting looking cloud and thought that I should investigate it, just in case it was a wounded animal of course."

"And I'm the Queen of Naboo" Rex mumbled from behind Anakin, leaning against a wall and crossing his arms as he regarded his friends, an annoyed expression on his face.

"How do you know? No-one can actually know what I was thinking – except me of course."

"I can…" Anakin folded his arms in annoyance. "…and I know that it sure as hell wasn't that, you blinked too much for that not to be a lie."

"Hayfever" Came Ahsoka's quick reply. "My eyes are watering like mad, blinking helps."

"Oh, you have Hayfever?" Anakin knew he had her cornered. "That's funny because I took the liberty of reading through your file when you were first assigned to me and it said nothing about Hayfever."

"You read my file?" Ahsoka felt violated. "How did you even get access to it?"

"I'm your legal guardian…it wasn't hard." Anakin commented simply. "So, I'll give you once chance to stop with the lies Ahsoka or else you will be very sorry. Why did you feel the need to disobey me and wander off?"

Ahsoka groaned and hung her head lower, she couldn't lie again…she didn't doubt her Master, she knew what he was like.

"I was originally going to point it out to you but I…" Ahsoka paused and bit her lip, the silence hung tangibly in the air as the group waited for Ahsoka to start talking again. However, Ahsoka had no intentions of putting her foot in her mouth again - her plan was to stay quiet and then...well, she didn't know what she would do after they were annoyed by her silence but she wasn't a strategist...she liked to make things up as she went along. She would not talk!

"Youngling, I suggest you be more forthcoming with this information." Obi-Wan advised in a no-nonsense tone. "Neither mine or your Master's patience will last all day."

"I was trying to get back at you." There goes not talking! Ahsoka folded her arms defensively before continuing. "I was mad that you were all babying me so I decided to prove that I could look after myself."

Rex took one look at Ahsoka with his eyebrows raised, he then looked to the two annoyed Jedi and commented, "Nice job!", whilst nodding his head in a patronising way.

"I didn't intend for things to get so carried away." Ahsoka huffed a little. "I just wanted to make you as mad as I was."

"Again…nice job!" Rex gave Ahsoka a mocking thumbs up as he looked from Ahsoka to Obi-Wan to Anakin. It was hard to see who was the most annoyed, but with Anakin, there was practically steam rising from his ears.

"I'm going for a walk…" Obi-Wan put a hand to his forehead in anticipation of the headache that was fast approaching. "She is your Padawan, you can deal with her."

"Thanks Master, you've been so helpful...I've never been more appreciative of your ability to pitch in and not avoid situations" Anakin commented dryly

"Try not to case too much destruction." Obi-Wan replied simply as he headed out of the gardens.

Ahsoka felt her heart drop as Obi-Wan walked away and left her with her Master, she was half prepared to run when he looked at her with that half angry, half disappointed expression that made her want to hide. What was she thinking? Chasing a cloud - she scolded herself - honestly what was she thinking, force damned impulsiveness. It was going to get her in trouble...scratch that...it had already got her into trouble.

"Master-"

"Don't even try to explain Ahsoka, I trusted you."

"Why are you making such a bit deal out of this?"

"I ask for very little of you, I let you have your freedom, I let you make your own decisions…I give you my loyalty and all I ask for is loyalty in return." Anakin shook his head. "You have just shown me how little loyalty you have for me." Anakin turned around and walked away.

Ahsoka stood, dumbstruck at what had just transpired, she didn't realise that it mattered that much to him. She felt terrible. She was loyal to him, above anyone else, she would follow him to her death, she never meant to hurt him. Once again, the teenager cursed her impulsiveness, smaking her forehead with the palm of her hands whilst muttering to herself about idiotic decisions and the consequences of them.

"Master" She jogged after him. "Master, stop! Please…wait."

She came to stop in front of him, blocking his path. He attempted to move around her but she side stepped and blocked his path once again, then he attempted to simply push past her but she put her hands on his chest and stubbornly dug her heels into the ground, stopping him from going forwards. In reality, he would've easily been able to knock her out the way or force her back but no matter how mad he was, he had no wish to hurt her. She was so tiny, it would be too easy to accidently cause more permanent damage.

"Ahsoka…move" He made sure his tone had enough malice to tell her that he meant business but not quite enough to scare her.

"Master, please…just hear me out." Ahsoka didn't like begging, it was a undignified thing to do that belittle a person and devalued them but right now she was just about ready to fall to her knees and beg for forgiveness.

Anakin folded his arms and raised an eyebrows, Ahsoka sighed slightly out of relief. She knew her Master and that pretty much meant he would listen...or that he was about 5 seconds from picking her up and physically moving her...she was banking on the first one though.

"Master, I am so sorry, I am…really am…I'm loyal to you above anyone else, there is no-one that I respect and trust more than you. I am didn't mean to make you feel that I'm not loyal because I am, I didn't mean to hurt you." Ahsoka clasped her hands in front of her together and fidgeted her fingers slightly, keeping her head to the ground. "Please don't send me away."

"Send you away? What are you talking about?" Anakin forgot about his anger with the girl

"You're mad at me; really mad…you're going to send me back to the temple." Ahsoka concluded. "You don't want to be my Master anymore."

"I'm not sending you back, Ahsoka." Anakin sighed; this girl's logic only ever confused him. Where did she come up with this? Did she read it from his body language or something because if she did she needed lessons on body language and how when he's angry it does not mean he's going to abandon her. "I'm angry with you but I'm not gonna send you back."

"You aren't?" Ahsoka didn't understand. "But your furious…I did something dangerous."

"You do that frequently."

"Yeah but you never react like this, you get mad but not as bad as this." Ahsoka shook her head in confusion. "I did something big this time, any other Master would send me away."

"I'm not any other Master." Anakin replied nonchalantly before looking his Padawan square in the eye. "Ahsoka, there is nothing you can do that will make me send you away…do you hear me? Nothing."

"You say that now but what about the next time you get mad? You can't know that." Ahsoka sighed slightly "I'm really sorry though, Master."

"Ahsoka I need to be able to trust you…I can't do that if you don't listen to me." Anakin sat on a bench and massaged his aching forehead.

"Our duty is to the Republic Master, I had an obligation to check that thing out, to make sure it wasn't going to threaten us. And it's your duty to accept that my actions were in the best interests of the mission."

"My duty is to the people I care about."

"That's not the Jedi way, attachment is forbidden." Ahsoka turned to face her Master and shook her head lightly. "The council would expel you if they thought you were putting your attachment above your duty."

"So be it." Anakin's voice sounded tiredly as he put a hand to his forehead. "Come here, Snips."

Ahsoka approached her Master and sat next to him, watching him carefully as he attempted to get rid of his fatigue, shaking his head slightly as he attempted to rid himself of his sleepiness. This was her fault. She knew she should have never told him about the warning from the force, then maybe he would be able to get some sleep.

"You see this" Ahsoka pointed at Anakin's weary and tired face. "You're worrying too much, it's not good for you…it's making you sick."

"Nevertheless, it is my job to keep you safe. What do you think would happen if you died? Do you think I would just ignore it and go on as if everything was normal?"

"That is what is expected of you." Ahsoka waved her arms about in annoyance.

"Well then, we both agree: I'm a terrible Jedi."

"Stop twisting my words, I never said that!" Ahsoka punched his arm lightly. "You are impossible, one minute you're having a go at me and the next you're having a go at yourself."

"I know" Anakin cracked a smile. "That happens when you have a crazy Padawan to take care of; it messes with your head."

"Your head was already messed up" Anakin looked at Ahsoka for a moment before reaching out with his hand and pushing her head away playfully.

"Little brat," He flicked a headtail affectionately

"And what?" Ahsoka attempted to look intimidating but all she managed to do was look like she was impersonating a penguin.

Anakin couldn't hold in the laugh that was bubbling at his lips so instead settled for a suspiciously shaky cough, much like one Obi-Wan would do to conceal his own laughter. He could never stay mad at Snips, it was next to impossible – she had a flair for people – you just couldn't stay mad at her, at was against human nature.

"I am coming on this mission." Ahsoka told him suddenly. "I'll find a way…even if I have to sneak out so you may as well let me come."

"Do not start this again." Anakin warned, his tone holding no patience for teenage rebellion.

Ahsoka glared at her Master, annoyed by his stubborn attitude. But she was going on this mission! She could talk her way out of anything...except with Bane but that di'kut didn't back down!


AN: It takes about 30 seconds to review; I want to know how sucky I am a writer!