Apologies
Anakin yawned loudly as he checked the time. The circles under his eyes had deepened, but despite his wakefulness and exhaustion, he had managed to get back to bed just before Padme woke up.
"I have to go," he whispered softly. Padme kept her eyes closed, but she managed to find his face fumbling.
"Will you come back later?" she asked wearily.
"Probably" he replied with an enigmatic tone. Padme finally opened her eyes and without a word gave him a long and passionate kiss.
"I'll be waiting for you" she told him seductively. Anakin did his best to resist the temptation to stay.
"Then I'll try not to delay" he said with an amused smile. After ensuring that his hair looked decent and that he had not lost her lightsaber, the Jedi knight took up his robes and decisively boarded his ship and took her back to the Jedi Temple.
As soon as he landed, he knew something was wrong. His Padawan was waiting impatiently for him, like a mother waiting for her teenage son who had left without permission.
"Where were you Skyguy?" she questioned him almost immediately. It seemed so threatening that Anakin had to remind himself that he was the master, not her.
"You never want to know, why this time yes?" he said trying to sound nonchalant, even though his nerves were killing him.
"Obi-Wan came looking for you last night," replied his Padawan with an eerie calm. Anakin felt his throat close and he gasped for air.
"What? What did you tell him?" he asked in an unusually low voice.
"I told him I'm not your babysitter" said his happy Padawan. Anakin couldn't suppress a smile.
"I'm sure you loved that answer" he whispered proudly. Ahsoka smiled too, almost as amused as him.
"I cant deny it"
Ahsoka could see an unmistakable shadow approaching them and quickly deduced who it was.
"Oh, here he comes" Anakin said amused.
"Try not to sound nervous," Ahsoka joked. Anakin frowned.
"I'm not nervous" he said indignantly.
"Whatever you say, Skyguy" the Togruta whispered mockingly.
Obi-Wan seemed quite embarrassed by his behavior the night before and it showed when he greeted Ahsoka quite nervously.
"Padawan Tano" he said with a little bow.
"Master Kenobi" Ahsoka replied without moving from her place. There was an awkward silence for a couple of minutes until Obi-Wan spoke again.
"Ahsoka, could you leave me alone with your master for a moment?" Obi-Wan asked in a pleading tone. But Ahsoka wasn't moved at all.
"Only if he agrees" she replied looking at him with contempt. Anakin nodded.
"Snips, wait inside" he asked his Padawan. Ahsoka gave Obi-Wan one last challenging look before retreating. If Obi-Wan seemed nervous before, now he really looked upset. A cold sweat ran down his back and he avoided looking Anakin in the eye. He had reflected on how much Ahsoka had shown him and realized how wrong he was. An apology was the least Anakin deserved.
"Anakin I ... I'm sorry for what happened yesterday. I know you expected me to take your side but sometimes I can't go against the Council" he said embarrassed.
Anakin was surprised at her sincerity and felt a little bad. He hadn't been entirely fair, either, after all.
"I ... understand" he replied to his master after a moment. Obi-Wan was speechless, he didn't expect Anakin to forgive him so soon. In fact he expected a spiteful rejection.
"Really?" he asked suspiciously, expecting some of his practical jokes. But Anakin just smiled kindly.
"I'm sorry too, master. I've disappointed you, I haven't be very appreciative with your training. I've been arrogant...and I apologize. I've just been so frustrated with the Council"
Obi-Wan smiled fondly and suddenly saw not the mature man standing in front of him, but the little boy from Tatooine.
"You are strong and wise, Anakin, and I am very proud of you.I have trained you since you were a small boy, I have thought yo everything I know...and you have become a far greater jedi than I could ever hope to be. Be patient, Anakin. The Council will appreciate your abilities"
Anakin, the hero with no fear, seemed moved to the depths of his heart. Obi-Wan's words had been warm and loving, a side of the Jedi master that he had never seen and on impulse, he hugged his master tightly. Obi-Wan imitated him and the master and aprenttice reconciled all their differences with that gesture of deep respect and affection.
"Does that mean you forgive me?" the excited Jedi Knight asked.
"There is nothing to forgive, Anakin. You are my brother and I love you" his master replied.
They both let go and looked in mutual admiration.
"Well, I think you still have to talk to a certain togruta" Anakin whispered in his ear, making Obi-Wan tense again remembering that things had not ended very well with Ahsoka the night before. In fact, she would probably be much angrier than Anakin and for good reason. But Obi-Wan Kenobi would not cowardly flee from this battle.
"Of course" he said, filling himself with confidence. He walked straight to Anakin's Padawan and gently touched her shoulder, but she immediately pulled away.
"Don't touch me" she said in a hostile tone. Obi-Wan pulled his hand away as fast as he could.
"He may be easy to convince, but I'm not" Ahsoka hissed annoyed. Anakin walked over and looked at her disapprovingly.
"I'm not easy to convince. Except that he was completely sincere and I couldn't refuse to forgive him" he justified himself, in an attempt to help Obi-Wan. But his master asked him to be quiet, determined to fix this on his own.
"Look Ahsoka, I know that yesterday I said some things out of place and I apologize. I was too stressed and the Council had burdened me with so much work that ... I took it out on you. I never wanted to say any of that and I'm really willing to wait for the time it takes so that you and I can be friends again "he said with the greatest honesty of which he was capable.
Once he finished speaking, Ahsoka was puzzled for a couple of seconds, taking in everything she had heard.
"I have to admit that you are really good at this" said the Togruta with a sneaky smile that only Anakin noticed.
"That means...?" Obi-Wan asked anxiously, but she monumentally ignored him.
"Come on masters, we'll miss lunch" she said pulling both Jedi into the temple. Once the two masters found themselves sitting in one of the dining rooms, Obi-Wan decided to clear up his doubts with Anakin.
"I think I'm not understanding" he muttered confused. Anakin let out a loud laugh.
"It's her way of telling you she's sorry too, but she's too proud to say it directly," he explained patiently. Obi-Wan nodded understandingly.
"I wonder who he learned it from" his master replied wryly as he tasted the tasteless mash.
Ahsoka returned with her plate full and was about to start a conversation about ship speed with her master when the same person who had interrupted them the day before appeared, as if it were a curse.
"Anakin, I couldn't find you yesterday, where have you been hiding?" Master Naya asked with a smile even more radiant than the previous day and a look full of adoration. Anakin cleared his throat nervously.
"Cass ... sorry, yesterday I had a couple of things to do in the eastern part of the planet" he explained automatically.
Obi-Wan and Ahsoka looked at each other with complicity, what issues had Anakin resolved? For some reason they felt that this had been a lie.
"But right now I have nothing to do. Do you still want those lessons?" he asked kindly.
Cass's face lit up completely, as if she had just seen one of the angels from the moons of Iego.
"Of course Anakin" he stuttered. He smiled at her with brotherly warmth.
"Well, go to one of the training rooms. I'll be there in a couple of minutes" he told her.
Cass bounced around for joy as Anakin hurried to finish his unappetizing meal.
"She likes you" Ahsoka said again, this time more convinced than ever. But Anakin once again refused to believe it.
"I thought we had already talked about this" he said while biting one of his loaves. Ahsoka rolled her eyes wearily. Anakin was too stubborn.
"Oh please Skyguy. Master Kenobi, am I right or wrong?" she asked Obi-Wan.
The Jedi Master looked at Ahsoka and immediately afterwards felt Anakin's piercing gaze upon him. So, for his own good, he try to be as reasonable as possible.
"Anakin is right. She is an honorable Jedi knight and they are like brothers." Anakin managed a smile.
"I told you," he finished in a triumphant voice before following in Cass's footsteps. The togruta waited for her master to be far enough away to listen.
"Oh come on, she's obviously in love with him" Ahsoka repeated taking a sip of water.
"Completely and hopelessly in love" Obi-Wan supported her as he watched Anakin walk away. Ahsoka almost screamed in surprise.
"Right? I knew I was not the only one who had noticed" she said completely excited.
"Well ... it's hard not to notice her complete adoration for him" Obi-Wan commented as he ate the last of the crumbs from his plate. Ahsoka sighed in satisfaction until her master disappeared from her sight.
"Wait ... then why did you say no?" she asked Obi-Wan confused.
The Jedi Master only smiled, the answer to that was too obvious.
"Because even if I said yes, Anakin would never realize it" he explained to Ahsoka. The togruta denied, still not understanding. Not that she wanted Anakin and the master Naya to go out, in fact that was more than forbidden and his master could get in trouble for that. The only reason she was sticking with it is because it seemed to make Anakin uncomfortable and was a never-ending source of fun when Ahsoka was bored.
"There is a possibility," she said hopefully. But Obi-Wan refused to support the idea.
"No"
"Why not?" Ahsoka asked, annoyed by Obi-Wan's pessimism.
"Because it's Anakin" Obi-Wan answered simply. Ahsoka had to admit that she was right. He had seen dozens of hints from Cass to his teacher and Anakin barely and had been surprised by a couple of them. He was the king of th distracted.
"You have a good argument" accepted the defeated Togruta.
They both giggled and continued their food happily, joking with each other and waiting for Anakin to come back to tease him. They did not know that this was one of the last moments they would enjoy together, as a group of friends. The first nightmare had begun that night, but it would not be the last. And Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, would have to face a difficult decision soon. One that could change the fate of the entire galaxy.