Hello, fans who read this! (Words fail to express how much I appreciate you guys for that). It's almost 1 am, and here I am posting a chapter during finals week. I'm just going to say that this is a fanfiction for luck through the week. I kind of just wanted to get it out there.
Atsushi hadn't expected training to be easy in the slightest.
But he hadn't imagined that it would be so hard.
He squinted at the sphere, willing it to float. Move. He commanded mentally. The ball didn't respond. Atsushi took a deep breath and focused on the Force, an action that he was only semi-familiar with.
Dazai sat behind him, lazily reading something he'd picked up from the Jedi archives. He could sense him there since Dazai had been kind enough to let his Force signature free, but Atsushi couldn't pick up any sort of emotion from him. It was… unsettling to some extent. He couldn't- for the life of him- pick up any signs of whether or not Dazai was pleased with the small amount of progress he'd made or irritated with it.
Atsushi couldn't even look at his master. How much disappointment would he see in Dazai's eyes if he turned around?
"I'm not disappointed with you, Atsushi," Dazai muttered. Atsushi winced at his voice. "Using the Force in a way that's not purely out of instinct is usually hard for a little while." Atsushi heard a long, slow exhale. "Atsushi, look at me." The Jedi's voice left no room for argument. Atsushi slowly looked over his shoulder. "You've been at it for a day and a half. I'm not expecting you to master your ability overnight. That's not the way it works."
"How long will it take?" He asked tiredly.
"I wouldn't know," Dazai responded. "You're just a bit late to the game. Most younglings learn when they're around five or six years old."
"Well, that's encouraging," Atsushi said sarcastically under his breath.
"What was that?" Dazai asked, looking back at him.
The padawan stiffened, silently reprimanding himself for being sardonic. "Uh… N-nothing."
He had his mentor's full attention now, and it made his muscles go tense.
Dazai put down his holobook and shifted so he was sitting up straight. "Listen," he began, his brown-almost red-eyes staring down at his apprentice. "It's time we get a few things straight." Atsushi's muscles twitched, like they were urging him to run, like they expected to get bruised from an oncoming strike. "It's alright to get frustrated, that's natural."
"Huh?"
"If being a Jedi was easy, we'd have a lot more Jedi." Dazai tilted his head at him. "It can be healthy to be tough on yourself, but you take it to an extreme level." He extended his hand slowly, calming Atsushi with the Force as he ruffled his hair. "I'm not going to hurt you and say it was a disciplinary action. Jedi don't roll that way." He pushed himself off the couch and grabbed Atsushi's wrist, ignoring when the youngling flinched with surprise. Dazai pushed his apprentice's hand up until it was level with the sphere. "Feel," he instructed, watching Atsushi close his eyes. "Don't think."
Atsushi's brows furrowed, and Dazai tightened his grip, though not to any point of pain. "You're thinking about it too much." He took a deep breath in and instructed Atsushi to do the same. "Try again."
Slowly, the metal ball rose from its place on the table, hovering the table's surface. Atsushi knew it. He couldn't see it, but he just knew. His eyes remained shut so he could focus on using the Force.
"Now pull it into your hand."
Atsushi's brows furrowed again and he let his fingers stretch out a little further. His master is silent beside him, his fingers wrapped around Atsushi's wrist. And now, Atsushi could sense him, the feel of his Force signature, the pattern of his breath. He could sense everything. He could count how many people were in the temple. He could feel calm Force signatures of the Jedi masters and the excited Force signatures of younglings in class. And he could feel the smooth, cool metal of the sphere as though it was in his hand
Slowly, carefully he beckoned it towards closer to his outstretched fingers. And even more slowly, it approached him, brushing against his fingertips and finding its place against his palm.
He opened his eyes as he curled his fingers around it. He couldn't fight off the pride warming his chest, and it almost didn't surprise him when Dazai hooked an arm around his shoulders and messed up his hair.
"You're getting it so quickly," Dazai praised as he let go of his student. "What did you feel when you used the Force, Atsushi?"
Atsushi blinked, feeling like the amount of praise his master gave him was a little excessive for just pulling a small sphere into his hand. He accepted it all the same, too unused to positive feedback to be in a position to deny it.
"Uhh…" He began, furrowing his brow as he tried to figure it out. "Like… Like I could feel everything?"
It came out like a question. Uncertain. Even more uncertain than he'd wanted it to be.
Dazai lost his grin, but he wasn't quite frowning at Atsushi. It was a serious look, a more adult expression that didn't seem to quite suit Dazai's face. "I'm the one asking you. Say it with confidence."
"I-It felt like I could feel everything." Atsushi remarked, narrowing his eyes with determination. A raised eyebrow prompted him further. "Like I was apart of everything. I don't know. It was… really incredible."
His master finally smiled again, and Atsushi felt like he'd given a right answer. "You're taking your first steps, my young padawan. It won't be long until you improve further and spar with the other padawans or join me on missions."
The idea of Atsushi going on missions made his stomach flip unpleasantly.
"It won't be so scary once you get out there," Dazai soothed, sensing Atsushi's thoughts. "You learn how to use the Force and do what's right in battle. You do things that help the galaxy."
Atsushi nodded.
Dazai smirked at him. "Come on now," he said with some hint of a laugh in his voice. "Don't make me go into your head to get you to talk to me. What's bothering you?"
The apprentice flinched, once again apologizing profusely. Dazai only chuckled in response, patting Atsushi's shoulder and saying something about how nervous he was. Atsushi hid his flushed face in his hands for a moment, and Dazai's voice turned serious again. "There's no reason for you to be scared of anything, you know."
Atsushi ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "I just- I feel like I'm so behind and I have so much to catch up on." The words tumbled out against his will now. "I levitated a ball that didn't weigh more than a mouse droid. I-I'm just so slow at this. Several five year olds are better at using the Force than I am for crying out loud!"
Waves of calm that he'd grown very familiar with quieted the storm in his mind. He heard Dazai sigh.
"One thing at a time, Atsushi," he said calmly with his normal smile. "The Jedi order wasn't built in a day. Neither are Jedi." He rose from his seat and gestured for Atsushi to follow him. "Besides," he concluded brightly. "Patience is the Jedi way."
/-/-/
Akutagawa scrolled through the list of jobs that he was overqualified for. It was a lengthy list, and the bounty hunter felt like he was up for a challenge.
He'd no qualms of killing for assassination missions, took no issue in getting tangled into political affairs, and, like most of the bounty hunters in the Port Mafia, he did not mind getting into fights with Jedi. He'd long ago gotten used to the gritty feeling of blood on his hands, and had gotten used to the sound of screams.
The long list of jobs felt rather insulting as he kept reading into it. Most of the jobs were to apprehend some second rate criminal or to steal something of value. All too easy. He needed a challenge. The stiffness in his joints was becoming all too obvious to him, and it was irritating.
"Sir," a voice called as a blond haired bounty hunter came through his door.
Any normal person would probably tell her to knock before entering, but it didn't matter to him, he'd sensed her before she'd been within a fifteen feet of his doorway.
"What is it, Higuchi?" He sighed, pausing to cough hard into his hand. "I'm busy."
"I know, and I hope you'll forgive the intrusion, Akutagawa," she replied bowing her head to him respectfully. "But I found a job offer I thought you'd like to take." She then held up the holodisk so he could see the ad.
Bounty:
Seven billion credits for the capture and delivery of a Jedi padawan
That got Akutagawa's attention. He skimmed the words with his eyes at first, before reading over them more carefully. The rest of the hologram stated various things the client wanted. It was surprisingly specific. It wasn't just a youngling said client was after, they wanted someone capable with the Force and lightsaber.
What the client wanted with a Jedi in training, Akutagawa didn't know, nor did he care. It was a job. It was a challenge he could beat. If he wasn't so focused on piecing together a plan in his head, he'd have smiled.
"Tell the boss I'm taking this job," he ordered Higuchi.
"I already did, Sir."
He responded with some form of approval, though he didn't like that his subordinate had acted without order, and that she knew him so well. However, he couldn't pay that anymore thought now. He had a job to do, and by Force, he'd do it right.
Tada! The plot thickens. Now, we have Akutagawa and he's going to do what he normally does but with Star Wars weapons, and it's going to be fun!
Please review!
May the Force be with you! (And happy holiday!)