He's Not Our Enemy

Disclaimer: I own nothing, all credit goes to George Lucas and Lucasarts.

Summary: After vanishing from the Jedi temple ten years ago, Anakin Skywalker is found. The Jedi imprison him until he decides to tell them what happened to him. After getting lost after fleeing from some of her abusive class mates, Ahsoka stumbles into Anakin's room and discovers a side to the force she never knew.

Four Days Till Competition, Ahsoka Tano

I'm not sure exactly when I fell asleep, but I know that Anakin had something to do with it. I'd just finished my lunch and was starting to feel a little drowsy before the next thing I could remember was waking up, meaning that Anakin most likely used a force suggestion to put me to sleep. Conniving idiot, I wish people knew that even those younger than them can take care of themselves when they want to.

Yawning, I turn over in bed and open my eyes. There aren't any blinds covering the window, though I'm not sure you could put blinds over a ray shielded window, and the day light is streaming in. I have no idea how actual daylight is coming in when the ray shield should be preventing it but I guess that's another of Anakin's tricks to make it feel more like a home for him. With a sigh, I snuggle into the pillow and look up at the bed side table. The chrono says that it is just after seven on a Monday morning, meaning that I've been asleep for about twenty-hours give or take a few minutes. Either way, I still wish I had slept for longer.

Disrupting my peaceful state, the door opens and I look towards the door, knowing that Anakin will be standing there. I didn't, however, know that he would be stood there with a breakfast tray. Blinking, I move and sit up as he puts the tray down on the bed and sits on the side of it.

"You got me breakfast?" I ask, looking from the tray to Anakin. "In bed?"

"Considering the fact that it's seven o'clock and you'd never make it back to the mess hall to have some in time, yes." Anakin replies with a smile. "Plus, it's a great oppurtunity to learn how to clean and make the bed with the force once your done. I'm not sleeping in a bed with loads of crumbs in it."

I cannot help but smile at the seriousness of his tone. "I guess that would be a handy trick to learn," I comment. "What's that on the toast?" I ask, changing the subject.

Anakin turns to look. "Oh, just strawberry jam," He says casually, turning back to me and frowning when I give him a puzzled look. "Don't tell me you don't know what jam is?"

"Jam?" I repeat the word, knowing that I've heard it somewhere before. In the younglings mess hall we only have butter or margarine as a topping for toast and nothing else, this is new to me. "Jedi don't eat jam." I say finally.

Rolling his eyes, Anakin picks up the tray and places it on my lap. "Well, the Jedi should change their menu." He says matter-of-factly. "Eat all of your breakfast and then I'll teach you how to make the bed with the force - not to mention how to clean it. Okay?"

I nod. "Okay." I reply. "Is there a reason you're being this nice to me?"

Anakin archs both eyebrows before tilting his head to the side in a nod of admition. "Four days left until your competition," He explains. "If you don't have all of your strength then you're going to be seriously injured and that is a promise."

It certainly didn't take him long to get to the point. "Fair enough," I say, picking up the toast with jam on it. "Don't we need to go over anything else? You know, before the competition."

"We'll just look over the map and you can tell me what your strategy will be." Anakin informs me. "It should be easy enough. I'm going to go and do some force wielder stuff, you eat your breakfast." He stands and heads for the door whilst I frown at him. Force wielder stuff? Well he's certainly not giving me any clues about what he does when he's on his own, is he?

Shrugging my shoulders, I doubt I'll ever fully understand Anakin, I look over the piece of toast before taking an experimental bite out of it. Yet another thing that Anakin was right about, jam and toast tastes very good – much tastier than simple toast and butter. As I eat I begin to wonder whether or not there will be anyone from my class left to fight in the competition. Half of us are in hospital and the other half are blaming one another, as that git Pedro did to me, for what is going on. For all I know, I might be the only one left before the competition and then I'll get the blame solely because I haven't been attacked, though I was at one point but no harm came to me.

I finish off all the four pieces of toast that Anakin brought me and start on the mashed potatoes. I've never had breakfast in bed before and it actually feels quite good, why don't people do this more often? Leaning back against the pillows, which have conveniently been moved so I can prop myself up on them, I continue to eat whilst wondering what Pedro, the git, will think of my not showing up for breakfast or dinner; I don't plan to go to the mess hall to eat with that vulture breathing down my neck.

Sighing, I poke at the bacon for a second before eating it all. For some reason, I am really hungry. I think it started yesterday or the day before when I wore myself out but there's no way to be sure; waking up and feeling hungry isn't exactly a way of pinpointing the exact moment when you started to feel like a starving animal. It's probably got something to do with the upcoming competition, maybe I'm feeling more nervous than I realised – I haven't really been feeling nervous at all since my mind has been sidetracked on all of my visits with Anakin.

By the time I am done with my breakfast, there is hardly a scrap left, it is about half seven and I get up without a second thought. After such a refreshing sleep and breakfast I don't really feel like staying in bed for much longer. Hastily brushing crumbs off of my clothes, I pick up the tray that used to carry my breakfast and walk out of the bedroom; Anakin must have slept on the couch if I was asleep in his bed.

In the lounge area, Anakin is sat doing something on his datapad; I don't think I'll bother to ask what he does on it because his answer is always the same: Do I ask you what you do in your lessons? No. So I'm not going to tell you what I'm doing on my datapad. Honestly, and obviously, it's a little frustrating that he won't tell me but I suppose it's to be expected from a force wielder who I've only known for just over two weeks.

"Did you make the bed?" Anakin asks, his eyes not leaving his datapad as he does whatever it is on there.

I place the tray down on the coffee table. "No. You said you'd show me how to make and clean it with the force, remember?"

Anakin nods, like it's pretty obvious even though he just asked me if I'd made it. The man makes no sense in the mornings. "I know. It still pays to do it anyway though, you know, automatically."

Rolling my eyes, I sit down in one of the chairs that surround the coffee table with the sofas. "Well, I don't do it automatically – as you put it – are you going to teach me how to use the force to do it?"

With a slow nod of the head, meaning that he's just finishing something, Anakin puts his datapad down on the coffee table and gestures for me to follow him as he heads towards his bedroom. Ignoring the urge to snatch up the datapad and read whatever is on it, I follow Anakin quickly and come to stand in the bedroom with him. He rolls his eyes at the bed, which is a mess because I like to leave my own bed that way and forgot that this one is actually Anakin's, before turning to me with an amused expression.

"Do you leave all of your beds in this condition?" Anakin asks, using his hand to gesture to his own bed.

How convenient. I was just thinking about that, the manipulative mind reader. "Yes," I reply. "But I usually fix them. Just... not right away."

Anakin smirks before, seemingly, getting down to business. "Okay, to use the force to do simple tasks you have to imagine how you would do it and then instruct the force to do it."

I arch an eye mark. "Instruct the force?" I repeat his words, knowing that soon enough he will catch on and know why I am sceptical.

"Well, not so much instruct, more... think it." Anakin says, confusing me. "Just think about how you would do it, wave your hand and focus on using the force to carry out your actions. Is that a better explanation?"

I frown for a moment before nodding and my face returns to the usual, neutral expression. "Yes, that makes more sense than before." I agree. "What about cleaning it? Don't I have to do that first?"

Anakin shakes his head. "That happens automatically," He explains. "Now, give it a try."

Glancing from the bed to Anakin for a second, unsure of how exactly to begin, I try to imagine me making my bed in my room. This, it turns out, is a lot harder than I thought because I rarely make my bed 'automatically' and whenever I do I can hardly remember it. Making my bed is just one of those things which I completely forget about ten seconds later. Well, I'm not about to say to Anakin 'I can't remember how I make my bed' so I try harder. Of course, the idea of trying is accompanied by Master Yoda saying 'do or do not, there is no try' which is then followed with Anakin's explanation of how the Jedi master is completely wrong and needs to have his brain checked. I smile slightly at the memory; Master Yoda having his brain checked? He's so old there would probably be nothing but dust and moths, despite his intelligence.

"Focus, Snips." Anakin says, snapping me out of my thoughts. "I can sense what you're thinking."

I roll my eyes and focus, as Anakin just said, on the task at hand. It takes me a minute at least to come up with a memory of me making my bed and yet another minute for me to think of how I would make it into perfection. Swallowing, I wave my hand and use the force to make the bed, only it doesn't quite turn out that way. The sheets become even worse and the pillows are scattered around on the mattress. A stray pillow, much to my amusement, flies straight at Anakin and hits him square in the face. I cannot help but smile and laugh at that shocked look which was on his face for a moment and is now forever imprinted in my memory.

"Ahsoka," He says slowly, his voice carrying a warning note.

Holding back my laughter, I dive for the bed when Anakin tries to tackle me. He misses, obviously, but now I am sort of cornered in the room since he is stood – or rather sprawled – in front of the door and preventing my escape. I start to laugh again as he picks himself up from the floor, dusts himself off and then dives at me. Anakin must have not liked sleeping on the couch much because he's only tackled me about a hundred times and those times were when he was slightly annoyed with me.

"Gotcha." Anakin says in victory when he grabs me around the middle and holds me still as I laugh uncontrollably. "You know, that wasn't very nice."

"It was funny, though," I reply, managing to stop my laughter.

Anakin smirks at me, maybe because he likes my comment, and gets off of the bed, pulling me along with him. This time he is thoroughly prepared for any incoming pillows and I smile as he seems to position himself in a way that will allow him to escape through the door if anything goes wrong again. For the second time, I focus and try to go through each of the steps a little more carefully this time. It takes a very long five minutes before I attempt it again. When I wave my hand my eyes are closed and I am almost afraid that a pillow will come my way, or worse, the duvet. However, it sounds like nothing has happened and Anakin hasn't tackled me, meaning that no pillows have come his way again.

Slowly, I open my eyes and am both relieved and astonished to see that it has worked, well, mostly. The pillows and sheets are all neat and orderly apart from one of the corners of the duvet where it is lifted up slightly but I doubt that's too big of a problem. I can easily pat that down, not that I would normally be bothered to do such a thing.

"That's better," Anakin says. "Now, keep practising."

Frowning, I look up at him. "Practice?" I whine, trying to change Anakin's mind. "That's so boring. Besides, how am I going to mess up the bed?"

Anakin rolls his eyes. "First off, you are going to practice because it's a good way to save time in the mornings. Secondly, you can just watch HoloVids and practice using the force to do everything. For instance, using the force to make the bed when you go for something to eat and using the force to choose the next HoloVid if you're too lazy to stand up and do it yourself."

I arch both of my eye marks. "You mean... we're not going to do anything fun?" I ask. "No fire making, no bombs, no exercise, no revising?"

Smiling, Anakin nods. "For the most part, unless I decide to change my plans, today will be you doing what any normal kid does on a weekend, even though it's a weekday."

"But I'm not a normal kid," I complain. "Normal kids can't use the force and they aren't friends with force wielders."

"Haven't you ever wanted to be normal?"

I shake my head. "I've wondered what my life would be like if I was with my parents but I never really think about it for longer than a minute. Besides, I don't want to do boring stuff I want to do something fun." I complain like the child I am, of course I would never admit that to anyone or anything.

Anakin sighs and rubs his chin, thinking about something that I hope is an alternative to what he has planned out. "Okay, how about you practise and rest for a few hours -"

I groan.

"- and then we get started on making your lightsaber?"

My interest peaks at this point. "Making my lightsaber?" I ask, making sure that I heard him right. "Really? I mean, I might not even win the competition so... couldn't you make it in a heartbeat?" My rambling is proof enough that I was not expecting him to mention anything about my lightsaber, considering the fact that I have yet to get a crystal. I'm going to get one soon, obviously, I can't be a Jedi without a lightsaber.

"It's like I said before, Snips." Anakin says. "Doing things by hand is funnier and teaches more. Besides, it's your weapon, not mine. My lightsaber's at home."

I frown at him. "Your lightsaber?" I repeat. "Hang on, you have a lightsaber? Really?"

Rolling his eyes, Anakin sighs. "I was a Jedi, remember? Anyway, you stay here and do something... a shower maybe."

I give him my best offended look. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"You've been sleeping in those clothes for two nights now, Ahsoka. Do you have any idea what the other Jedi will think if you show up smelling like you do right now?" He points out with the intuition that makes my eyes narrow.

But the man has a point, I realise as I sniff my clothing and pull back in disgust, I need a shower. "You make a good point," I concede. "Can I use your shower?"

Smirking, Anakin points to somewhere out of the door. "Smallest door on the left. You can't miss it."

I turn around and mutter a 'thank you' on my way out. Anakin really has a way with subtlety, in other words, he's rubbish with it. A simple hygienic joke or something would have been enough to make me realise I needed a shower; he really didn't need to come right out with it like that. Oh well; that's just one of the many things that I like about Anakin – sort of – even if it makes him sound like a pompous fart.

Finding the door that Anakin mentioned easily, I palm it open and lock the door behind me when I see that I am in a different 'fresher to the one he has adjoined to his room. This is either something that Anakin asked Master Kenobi for because of personal reasons or a guest 'fresher, which makes no sense to me whatsoever since Anakin doesn't appear to like much of the company he gets – other than me.

Jedi don't really feel odd about using other people's showers or things so it's not surprise that I have no problem with it. I do, however, make sure that there aren't any cameras or anything about; I wouldn't put it past the council to have put some cameras somewhere but there weren't any in other places so I just have to make sure. Luckily there are none and I get into the shower without further notice (with my clothes folded neatly on the floor).

Anakin is really lucky that I didn't just lunge at him and tackle him to the ground for what he said. Rule number one: anyone who insults a Jedi kisses the floor; that's how the rule goes for me and the twins, unsurprisingly. There is probably a special place in the nether world of the force for anyone who insults, or attacks, a Jedi. We are one with the force, as Master Yoda says, and the force will not allow our deaths or injuries to go unpunished; justice will be swift from the force itself, though somehow I don't see how punishment is the Jedi way let alone how the force does things.

When I get out of the shower I frown at my clothes. They look slightly off. Picking them up, I grab a note that falls out of them. Suspiciously, but hardly surprisingly, it is from Anakin.

Snips,

Used the force to clean your clothes.

Anakin.

P.S. The material your Jedi attire is made out of it really uncomfortable. I can change it if you'd like.

Rolling my eyes, I get dressed and pick up the note as I head out of the 'fresher (or on suite bathroom as some people would call it). Honestly I don't know how Anakin knew that the material of my clothes is uncomfortable and I think I'd sleep better at night if I didn't ask.