Why are my teachers determined to give me so much work? like sirs I am 14 I should not be spending my whole day on this shit :/ like I dont really even have time for my art anymore, which has been kinda sad bc I have so many ideas! also I dont have time to write fanifiction lmao so I can't update next week *smiles thru the pain* Anyways enjoy :)

Disclaimer: yadayada dont own the characters if i did *insert thing here*

Chapter Seven: why we going so fast?

Ahsoka was slumped over a table in the mess hall, half of the vast space overtaken by datapads. She had bags under her eyes and was barely taking in the information in the article in front of her. She read the whole page five times before she even realized she wasn't making progress, shutting off the screen and dropping her head to the table with a groan. She did not care for this assignment, but being away on missions had left her swamped with work for her mandatory padawan courses.

The war existing did not mean she was exempt from her duties as a padawan learner, and that meant late-night cramming sessions while she attempted to get her homework done before it was due. One would think the scholars would lighten up on the work, but they seemingly had no care for how time-consuming being a Commander could be.

It was difficult, leading the men she had come to consider her brothers and some of her closest friends into a battle she knew not all of them would survive. Her vod would happily give their lives for her, and she did her best to ensure they didn't. Sometimes, though, it didn't work and men died. She remembered them and honored them as best she could, no matter how many fell on the battlefield. So to say she had a lot on her hands was an understatement.

The work wasn't always this bad, but this campaign had been a particularly long one and the assignments had piled up. Sometimes the professors laid off on assignments and that slowed it to a manageable amount, but right now they were going a bit too fast to have a healthy sleep schedule and get it done on time. That was why, after four hours of vigorously typing calculations and paragraphs into her work datapad, she was half-asleep on the mess hall table as her men shot covert, worried glances.

"The Commander looks like she's about to pass out," whispered Echo.

Fives snorted. "Twenty credits she falls asleep before we leave."

Coric slapped the ARC on the back of his head, earning a snicker from a shiny. He got up to go talk to his overworked vod'ika, taking with him his almost full mug of caf. He sat down on the bench next to her. She barely seemed to notice, sighing into her arms which cushioned her forehead against the table.

"A little overworked, huh," He joked, hoping to liven her up. She grunted, not moving. He sighed, looking at the mounds of work she had accumulated. He did not envy his jetti.

The medic took a sip of his caf, setting it back down on the table. At this she stirred, sitting up a bit and sniffing the air. In her tired state some of her predator instincts were kicking in, relying more on the subconscious than conscious to stay awake. That meant that smelling something like caf intrigued her. She took one look at it, realized what it was, and downed the whole mug before poor Coric would even try and stop her. He stared, horrified, as this small, skinny child downed a nearly full mug of caf that was extra strong and completely black, meant for a man of his build and not… her.

The change was not immediate and he was almost sure that she was going to be okay. That calm unraveled, however, when she started to smile a bit too giddily. She set down the mug with far more force than necessary and dashed from the room, Coric gazing uncertainly after her. He sighed and went to refill his caf. He was gonna need it.

Several shinies watched nervously as their Commander vaulted between the piles of crates in the cargo bay, a manic gleam in her eye. They did not know her well enough to do something about it, so the small group was reduced to watching helplessly as she ran across the tops of their AT-TEs, squealing in glee as she cheated serious injury. None of the men staring with apprehension knew her for long, but they were acquainted enough to see that something was up.

Ahsoka whooped as she landed on her starfighter, rolling so as not to hurt herself or the expensive ship. This was the most energy she had ever had, far too much to just sit around doing boring work. No, she needed to be up and moving. She had never realized how fun parkour was, always having done it in dire situations. Sure, there was always a thrill from chancing fate on high up spots or completing her acrobatics obstacle course in training, but this leant her such a good outlet for her energy and joy in that moment that she really didn't wanna stop.

One of the shinies, a man by the name of Denter, looked nervously at his brother. "Should we… do something about this?"

The other clone rubbed the back of his neck as he watched the little togruta to a backflip off of a tank. "I don't… the long-necks didn't prepare me for this."

Denter sighed. "Me neither."

His vod shifted uncomfortably. "Should we stay and watch her? She could get hurt."

"She's a Jedi, you di'kut. She'll be fine."

"I dunno. I just don't feel right leaving her alone…"

Denter sighed. "I'm going to the mess hall to get some grub. You can stay here, but I am leaving."

"Fine."

As the teen continued to leap about, adding elaborate twirls and flourishes to her routine, Denter headed to the very place he said he'd go. He really did not want to deal with whatever was going on in the cargo bay; he could probably get in trouble if something went wrong and he also did not understand what his Commander was doing one bit.

The shiny walked into the mess hall to the greetings of his brethren, grabbing a tray of grub and sitting down next to Coric; an older clone and a medic. The other man was finishing off a mug of caf, looking slightly concerned about something, but also too tired to care. They sat in content silence for a minute, and then Denter decided to break the quiet.

"Is something up with the Commander today? I saw her down in the cargo bay… she was acting odd."

Coric's head snapped up, and the shiny worried he'd said something wrong.

"How so?"

His tone was sharp and the other clone tried not to shrink under his intense look.

"Well, she was jumping around on all the equipment, acting all giddy and wild."

The medic sighed, swigging the last of his caf and getting up. "I guess I have to handle this now."

The man really regretted bringing caf anywhere NEAR his vod'ika, she was a problem factory and he should've known she would pull something like this. It was clear the caffeine was taking an affect on her due to the sheer amount of it in that cup. It had been meant to be a lot for him, and she was certainly not his size. He sighed when he heard squeals and cheers coming from inside the cargo bay, all hope that she was calmer now gone.

He pushed open the door to see an uncomfortable shiny watching nervously as she climbed up the topmost turret of the Twilight. Stepping into the room he crossed his arms as she posed in victory on top. He cleared his throat and called out, "Commander! You need to get down from there!"

She laughed. "Nuh-uh! This is fun!"

He sighed. "Doctor's orders, vod'ika. Don't make me call Rex on you."

At this she got a little shifty. "Well, you don't have to do that…" She trailed off as he raised an eyebrow, leveling her with a disapproving look. She looked around a little and leapt from the ship, sprinting past him and out the door. "You can't call Rex on me if you don't know where I am!"

He sighed. Why did he have to be in the 501st?

Anakin rubbed his face tiredly, sighing as Coric finished ranting. After a second to digest what he had heard he said, "So let me get this straight. Ahsoka drank your caf and you did not give it to her-' the medic nodded, he had made sure to emphasize that this was not his fault- "and now she is running around the ship and causing problems, so you want me to deal with it."

"Yes, sir."

He sighed. "Fine. I knew I never should have taken on a padawan."

With that the General got up and left the room, deciding to try the easy route first. He turned on his comm, calling her directly. "Snips, where are you?"

She did not answer immediately, probably wondering if he had sinister motives. "In the medbay hall." she was telling the truth, he could sense it in the Force, but she was probably on the move and leaving there anyways. Clearly the chase thrilled her.

The Knight closed off his microphone but kept the link open; perhaps she would accidentally disclose where she was going without realizing. He decided to head to the aforementioned medbay halls; it would be the best place to start looking. AT a run it took him five minutes to get there, and she was long gone, as suspected. He walked into the main room, where Kix sat at a desk, filling out reports. He looked up, snapping to attention at the random and unannounced presence of his General. Standing up, he asked, "Sir, what is it?"

Anakin stopped, leaning against the wall. "At ease, Kix. I was just wondering if you've seen Ahsoka? She came through this way a few minutes ago and I need to track her down."

The medic did not ask why he didn't comm her, he knew better than to ask questions. "She ran from the same direction as you a few minutes back, I'm not sure where she is now."

The Jedi nodded his thanks and headed out, on his way to track down that reckless togruta.

It was about a standard hour later when Anakin found her, passed out on the floor and clutching a pauldron. He had no clue whose it was or how she got it, but he did know that he needed to return her to her quarters. He sighed and scooped her up, carrying the sleeping togruta bridal-style through the halls. Coric would probably be pleased to know that she had been found and retired to where she belonged, which was currently a time-out. When she woke up the two Jedi would be having words about drinking your own kriffing caf.

He got a couple odd looks, but most of the men were used to weird things happening around the ship by now. Shinies were usually too scared to say anything and the veterans knew what was up. He did happen to pass Rex in the hall, looking annoyed and missing his pauldron. They both stopped, making the connection at the same time.

"I believe this is yours," said Anakin, indicating the missing piece of armor with his head. The Captain took it and fastened it back on.

"Thank you sir, the Commander took it. She was acting very strange."

He sighed. "She chugged Coric's caf without his permission. He sent me on an errand to find her, he seemed to believe it was not his responsibility."

The clone chuckled. "Aren't you supposed to be the one giving orders?"

With that the General walked away, leaving a laughing man behind him. He went a bit further before he finally arrived at his padawan's quarters, setting her on the cot she occupied. When she awoke she would find herself permanently banned from drinking caf and far behind on her abandoned homework. But for now she was getting some well-needed rest.

End of chapter!

Notes:

-wow another long one

-i need to get a better sleep schedule I almost fell asleep in tutoring ima pass out in class bro

-not me writing this at 1 am 7 hours before i need to get up

-Coric: not my problem bro

-Anakin: eternally sighing while obi-wan cackles in the background

Yall im gonna be honest I probably wont update next week, I havent been finding much time to write recently. Obvi we will see, but dont be surprised if no new chapters are out saturday

Tune in next time for chapter 8