Anakin walked grumpily away from the Council meeting he just finished. He was on a Jedi star cruiser currently headed to the planet Geonosis. The bugs had been retaliating against the Republic ever since they destroyed their hive and queen. He was hoping he didn't have to go on the mission, since their last visit was a difficult one. Obi-wan had been badly injured during that battle.
He let a small smile grace his lips at the remembrance of Obi-wan's protests against staying in the hospital. Anakin didn't want to leave his side and tried to entertain him while he was recovering. His former master was rather annoyed that Anakin was waiting on him hand and foot. Eventually, though, he had made a full recovery and was back on his feet in no time. Anakin shook the memory from his head and tried to focus on the mission at hand.
Since Geonosis was a very sandy planet and they tended to have sandstorms once in a while, Anakin was tasked to check every ship, weapon, and tank and make sure they were in perfect shape. This chore was very boring and very long and the young Jedi Knight hated long and boring jobs. Luckily they had plenty of time on their hands since it was a long journey to Geonosis. Being the perfect Jedi he was, Obi-wan had already started on this tedious task. Although he wouldn't admit it, he didn't care much about the job either. He was just better at hiding it, unlike Anakin.
"Hey master," Ashoka greeted, "how did the briefing go? Did you get in trouble again?" she asked with a smirk.
Anakin playfully scowled at her, "I did not get in trouble thank you very much. I just briefed them on our situation and how long it's going to take to get to Geonosis," he groaned slightly. "Honestly, I'm not very eager to go on this mission. Our last visit to the planet ended up taking longer than we thought. We also lost a lot of men," he frowned at the amount of clones they had lost the last time they fought on Geonosis.
"Maybe this mission won't be as bad," she smiled, "at least we don't have brain infecting worms invading in our personal space."
Anakin chuckled at his padawan's words. She could be so hopeful sometimes it was infectious. He laid a hand on Ashoka's shoulder, "come on we better find Obi-wan. We have to check our weapons, supplies, and ships to make sure they work. We don't want to leave Obi-wan by himself."
Master and padawan began their walk to the main hangar. They decided to make conversation to pass the time. They cracked jokes and teased each other, as usual. Sometimes, the conversation would turn serious and they would talk about past missions. Then they talked about each other, asking about one another's mental well-being. The war had been taking a toll on both of them, more so on Ashoka. She was still a child after all, and no child should experience death every hour of every day of their life.
Anakin smiled as she opened up more about her feelings. Ever since she had strengthened her bond with his former master, she had been talking about her emotions more. This made the conversation switch over to the topic of Obi-wan.
"Obi-wan really helped huh?" Anakin curiously asked, "I never got to ask you, but what did he teach you?"
Ashoka looked up at him, "He just told me to talk about my feelings. He said he used to do that with his old master, Qui-gon Jinn I think his name was."
Anakin stiffened a bit at the mention of Qui-gon. It was a hard subject to talk about around Obi-wan, so he usually refrained from speaking about it. He was surprised that his former master opened up a little bit about Qui-gon to Ashoka of all people. "You must be getting closer to him because he usually doesn't like to talk about his old master. We've had arguments over that subject actually," Anakin frowned, remembering all the hurtful words he had said to Obi-wan when he was a padawan.
That got Anakin wondering if his master ever laid awake at night thinking about the words he had said. There had to be another way he would deal with his emotions, since he couldn't talk to Qui-gon anymore. He could've talked to Yoda or Master Windu, but Obi-wan had been young then and still dealing with his master's death. On top of all that, he had to deal with a nine year old boy who just got pulled into a life full of rules and frustration. He couldn't have been able to talk to anyone! Anakin began to get worried about his master's well-being. Did he still have bottled up emotions that he hadn't been able to get out? That would explain why Obi-wan was always so stressed all the time. In fact, he had been acting a bit strange lately. Maybe he needed a mental break.
He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't hear Ashoka talking to him until she shouted out his name. "Anakin!" This made him jump and turn around to look at his padawan.
"What?" he asked with a frown still stuck on his face.
"You got very quiet for a while," she said with worry laced in her voice, "are you okay?"
He just shrugged, "What you said got me thinking about when I was a padawan. Then I started thinking about some other things and I ended up feeling worried about Obi-wan."
"Why, is he sick or something?" Ashoka asked.
"No," he hesitated, "look I've known Obi-wan far longer than you have and he's just been stressed lately. As long as I've known him he's never really had me talk about my emotions to him, or the other way around. Let's just find him and see what's going on."
Ashoka just nodded and followed Anakin into the main hanger. They decided to split up and search for the missing Jedi Master. It would go faster that way. He asked a few clones from the 212th, but they hadn't seen him. "Hey Cody," he called, making the Commander straighten and salute. "Have you seen General Kenobi anywhere?"
"I saw him in the briefing room before your meeting with the Council, sir," he said, "during your meeting he mentioned something about cleaning a ship, sir."
Anakin nodded to the stiff Commander, "thank you Cody, I believe I know where he is now." The Commander merely saluted and then Anakin walked away. He was sure now that Obi-wan was spot-checking his fighter. He always did that before every battle, even if he wasn't tasked with the job. Anakin's worry increased a little, although he wasn't sure why. Maybe after this mission, he could convince Obi-wan to take a week or even a few days for himself. He surely needed a vacation, in fact all three of them did. He was getting tired of this war and, whether he admitted it or not, Obi-wan was too.
Anakin quickened his steps, earning a few curious looks from the clones around him. He was getting close to Obi-wan's fighter and smiled when he saw his master under the ship, tinkering with something. He was about to call out to him, when he heard a strange sound come from the direction of the General. His steps faltered as he got closer, straining his ears to listen to the soft sound. The sound wasn't bad, in fact it was very beautiful and flowed smoothly like a stream. Anakin widened his eyes as he realized that the sound was singing, and he was even more surprised when he heard it coming from Obi-wan himself. He stopped walking altogether, careful not to disturb his master.
He was singing quietly, but loud enough that Anakin could hear. "We can live in a world that we design," Obi-wan sang, "Cause every night I lie in bed, the brightest colors fill my head. A million dreams are keeping me awake."
Anakin was shocked to hear such a beautiful come out of Obi-wan's mouth. He wasn't just carrying a tune, he was downright singing! Like he could go on some singing competition and possibly win! In all of the time he spent by Ob-wan's side, he had never heard him sing. Not even when he got nightmares as a child and he used to curl up next to his master.
"There's a house we can build," Obi-wan continued, "every room inside is filled with things from far away. The special things I compile, each one there to make you smile on a rainy day." Anakin decided not to tell Obi-wan he was there. "They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy. They can say, they can say we've lost our minds. I don't care, I don't care if they call us crazy. Runaway to a world that we design."
Anakin silently wondered if he was singing to an invisible Satine. He smirked at that thought, but didn't say anything. "However big, however small, let me be a part of it all. Share your dreams with me. You may be right, you may be wrong but say that you'll bring me along to the world you see. To the world I close my eyes to see, I close my eyes to see."
Of course, that's when Ashoka decided to show up, "Is Obi-wan singing?" Anakin covered his padawan's mouth hastily, but it was too late. Obi-wan dropped a tool in his surprise and bumped his head trying to get out from under the ship. Anakin had to cough to cover up a snicker at that. When he did get out, Anakin wanted to shrink under Obi-wan's glare. However, he could've sworn he saw a light dusting of pink across his cheeks.
"Anakin," he said too calmly, "don't you know better than to sneak up on people when they're working. You startled me quite a bit!" Then, after a tense pause, "how much did you hear?"
Anakin smirked, "oh I heard enough to realize that you are very good at singing. Seriously, how did I not know about this? You shouldn't keep that a secret!"
Obi-wan rolled his eyes, "don't be so dramatic. I'm sure I'm not better than anyone else." Anakin stifled a groan at his master's humbleness.
"No I'm serious, if you were in a movie or something I'm sure you would've won an award or something!" he crossed his arms. "You should sing more often, you're really good!"
"I do, just not in front of others," Obi-wan said in defense, "I confess I do it to help me cope with the stress of the war." He didn't look at them when he said that. He suddenly found a great interest in an invisible dirt spot on his fighter.
"Ashoka," said padawan turned to Anakin, "why don't you check on Rex and the others. See if they need any help." Knowing Anakin needed to talk with his friend, Ashoka only nodded and ran off. After she was gone, he stood next to his best friend.
"So you are having trouble," Anakin leaned against the small ship, "you know you could've told me if you needed a break."
"Please Anakin," Obi-wan turned to him, "I appreciate the gesture but we have more important things to worry about. I don't need to bother you or anyone else with my problems." Anakin sighed at that, he knew Obi-wan would push away his request.
Instead, he decided to ask something else, "you said the singing helps? Have you done that before?" Obi-wan noticeably stiffened, but replied eventually.
"I started singing after my master died," was all he said and suddenly Anakin knew why he liked to be by himself a lot when he was a padawan. He laid a hand on his friend's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. Obi-wan looked at him then and gave him a small smile.
"Well I liked your singing," Anakin smiled, "if I had known you could sing when I was a child I would've asked you to sing for me whenever I had a nightmare." He felt Obi-wan give him a warm pulse of thanks through their force bond. Then he went back to checking his fighter over. Anakin smiled at his friend, he was always learning something new about him even when he thought he knew Obi-wan enough. I guess there's more to Obi-wan than meets the eye, Anakin thought as he helped him finish his spot checking. He was truly thankful that the universe granted him a friend like Obi-wan.