Ahsoka walked into the mess hall, assuming, (rightfully so), that her master was there. She ran up to him and Obi-Wan.
"Hey, birthday girl!" Anakin said cheerfully.
Her stripes darkened and she pursued her lips at him, frowning. He slung his arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards him.
"Happy birthday, Ahsoka." Obi-Wan said, professionally as always. It was entertaining, actually, to watch and wonder how such polar opposites had managed to become best friends. Become best friends and not rip each other's throats out, that is. Anakin, wild, rule bending, charming, chaotic Anakin, and the oh so proper and ruled Obi-Wan.
She slipped out of Anakin's grasp, making her way to the breakfast bar, (if you could even call it that), motioning for him to follow her.
"I'm intrigued in your plans, Master." She said once he caught up, glancing sideways at him. "I've never really had a birthday before."
He smirked. "As an expert, believe me, you'll like it."
He must have meant Tatooine, she thought. She imagined it, would he and Shmi have anytime to celebrate before being rushed back to work? Would they have any extra food, or any money to spend on gifts? She shook her head. She hated thinking about his slavery, absolutely hated it.
Anakin spoke, shaking her out of her thoughts. "This is what I'm thinking," he said as they grabbed their food. "Breakfast," he nodded at his plate, "and then, get this, we grab a shuttle from the hanger and go for a fly! Anywhere. Anywhere you want." He grinned, proud at his idea.
She couldn't help but smile. Of course his first idea was centered around flying.
But where would she want to go?
That wasn't an easy question. Her and her master were different in loads of ways, but they shared the same want since they were both kids. To travel the galaxy, see everything. And fortunately for them, where the war didn't take them they could always travel to on any training leave, at least with the approval with the council. It was part of being a padawan. But every planet wasn't an option, and there wasn't a lot of planets left unaffected by the war.
She slowly nodded. "I like it."
"Idea one, success."
They took their place at their normal table near the back, and Anakin started poking at the rations. All it was was a slab of bread, some meat, and stale fruit. "Maybe we could go to a restaurant as well." He added. The rations were never much, all they really ate was a breakfast and maybe a supply stick here and there. With the Republic nearing bankruptcy with the costly purchase of new clones and ships to fight in the war, nothing more could be sparred than the bare minimum.
Ahsoka had an idea. "How about Alderaan?" She asked suddenly.
Anakin cocked a brow. "Alderaan?"
She nodded. "Yeah! It's in the core anyways, so it's not too far away, and it's so shabla pretty, it'd be perfect!"
"Okay, Snips."
"You wanna ask the council, Skyguy?"
"Eh."
"'Eh?'" She repeated.
"It's more fun when it's breaking rules." He smirked.
She glared at him. "Master."
"Fine, we can tell Obi-Wan."
"Tell me what?" Obi-Wan walked up to the pair at the mention of his name.
Anakin stood. "Me and Ahsoka were thinking of going to Alderaan. Ya know, for her birthday?" He threw away the tray and Ahsoka did the same. "We should be back later this afternoon." The man had another idea.
"I'll call you when we get back, but," he watched as Ahsoka skipped off to Rex, and leaned closer to his friend. "Can you gather some people? I was thinking of dinner. It doesn't need to be a lot, maybe Plo, Rex, Cody, Fives, Barriss?"
Obi-Wan nodded. "Okay, I'll see who can come."
"Thank you so much." Anakin patted his master's shoulder.
"Skyguy!" Ahsoka called.
"Coming!" He winked and saluted at Obi-Wan and ran off. "See ya!"
In the hanger….
Anakin followed his padawan into a Republic shuttle they had managed to find, and shut the blast door behind him.
He walked into the cockpit. Finding her in the pilot seat, he stopped in his tracks. "You're flying?"
Anakin and Ahsoka seemed to both have problems with each other's flying. (Which in Ahsoka's opinion was COMPLETELY unjust since she hadn't come close to crashing as many ships as him, while she was in them, she might add).
She nodded. "Yep."
He bit his lip and took a deep breath forcing himself into the copilot seat. He quickly fastened the seatbelt around his waist.
"Force, Anakin, my flyings not that bad."
"I'm just saying, dying on my padawan's birthday isn't exactly the way I wanna go out." He looked over at her. "Especially when she's the cause."
She rolled her eyes, but still wore an unshakable smile. "Whatever." She switched on the engines, hearing the all too familiar THRUMM of them humming to life. Her hands flew over the controls, and she slowly lifted her out of the hanger, easing her out of Coruscant's atmosphere.
Anakin watched her, pride filling his chest. As much as they did fight about the other's flying, she really had gotten the hang of things quickly. Those first few months teaching her how to really fly were some of his favorites being her master. She was so passionate, almost as much as him, and was determined to learn and become better each day. She was flying within a week, and now she knew the controls like the back of her hand.
She caught his gaze. "What is it?"
He blushed. "It's nothing."
"Okkay." Ahsoka flipped a few switches on the main controls. "You wanna do it?"
He smiled. "Of course."
"Kay, jumping into hyperspace in 3…"
Anakin grabbed the lever.
"2...1…"
He pulled it back and the pair flew back in their seats, the stars in front of them zooming past and fading to blue.
The flight to Alderaan was peaceful, with relaxed conversation and laughing and jokes, and soon they were dropping out of hyperspace and into the planet's atmosphere.
Immediately Ahsoka was blown away by the sheer glory of the planet, with giant snow-capped mountains and shining lakes, the grass was a pure hue of green, the white buildings reflecting the beautiful view in their windows.
Her eyes were wide and jotting between everything, not wanting to miss anything. Like if she blinked it'd disappear.