Heyo, human beings from outer space!
It's pi day, so you better go get yourself some pie. Go. Now. No. Stop reading this. If you're still reading this and you don't have pie, you're WRONG.
Do you have your pie now? Okay, fine.
Requested by Nugget_Lord_ (stupid tags aren't working)
Read on if you dare.
Transitioning to new quarters— one he shared with his unexpected padawan— was another thing Anakin could add to his list of Things That Suddenly Change When You Get a Child Thrown in Your Face. But overall, this addition wasn't so bad. The new quarters had more space and a larger 'fresher. His personal cabin had a bigger, squishier bed too.
Having to live with another person would certainly be an adjustment, though. Anakin had lived with Obi-Wan, but the dynamic was entirely different. Anakin trusted Obi-Wan, and was comfortable with him. But Ahsoka.... Anakin had no idea how he was supposed to act.
At least he had some time to figure it out... and several hours of silence. Ahsoka had lessons from the morning to the afternoon. So Anakin had spent the day enjoying the increased space and the holofilm projector as he hashed out the stacks of paperwork that had piled up after his previous mission.
When he was only a few files away from finishing, the door clicked and Anakin turned his head in time to see it swish open. Ahsoka shuffled in, her eyes pointed at the ground. Anakin's brow creased. Something about her energy was... off. He could sense it in the Force.
And what made it even clearer was the way she was trying to slink to her cabin, staying in the shadows.
"Padawan," Anakin said, and Ahsoka froze like a statue in her steps. "How was the day of lessons?"
"As usual," she said, hesitating just long enough to give Anakin time to turn on the lights he'd dimmed for the holofilm.
Once the shock of the brightness in his eyes faded, Anakin quickly figured out why Ahsoka was cowering, and his brow scrunched tighter. Her lower lip was cracked and swollen, and ugly bruises splotched one of her lekku and arms.
"What happened?" Anakin breathed. If his padawan was already getting in fights—
"It's not a big deal," Ahsoka muttered. "Really, I'm okay."
Angry sparks heated Anakin's chest. "That didn't answer my question."
"You don't have to be worried—"
"I do if you don't tell me what happened," Anakin growled, the ghost of who did you beat up? threatening to spring to life on his tongue.
"I, uh... I fell down the stairs."
Her lekku flushed so dark and she turned so sheepish that it scuffed out the fury boiling in Anakin's chest. And all he could manage was, "Oh."
"Yeah," Ahsoka muttered, rubbing a bruise on her elbow. "I have homework." And with that, she shut herself in her cabin and didn't come out for the rest of the night. Anakin made an effort to offer her something to help with the bruising (courtesy of thinking what would Obi-Wan do?) but she assured him she had supplies from her own med kit.
And in the morning, the bruises were faded enough for Anakin to have to squint to see them. So he assumed everything was fine. And it was.... Until the next week.
When the door swished open one afternoon, Anakin nearly fell out of his chair. Blood was smeared all over her face.
"I tripped," she said. "Got a nosebleed. I thought it stopped but it started again. Sorry."
Again she disappeared.
They were deployed the next day, but when they returned, Ahsoka came back from her lessons the first day with a gash on her palm.
"I was carrying a glass bottle we had for a scientific lesson, and I dropped it. I tried to grab it but it shattered, and it cut me," Ahsoka explained.
And it never stopped. Never. Ahsoka had some sort of accident at least once a week. Sometimes up to three times a week. She'd trip, burn herself in lightsaber training, break things that would cut her, and she fell down the stairs at least fifteen more times.
And sure, accidents happened, and some people seemed to be more hazardous but... Ahsoka wasn't. She never showed any signs of clumsiness. Not when milling around their quarters, and certainly not in battle.
"Don't you think it's a little weird?" Anakin asked Obi-Wan one day, not liking the worry etched into his former master's features.
"How often does it happen?"
"A lot. Like, at least once or twice a week."
The concern deepened.
"What?" Anakin hissed.
Obi-Wan sighed. "It's never anything huge, is it?"
"No, just what you'd expect."
"Is it getting any worse?" Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin considered it for a moment, the memories of Ahsoka's accident-prone consequences flashing through his mind. "Yeah, sometimes. Some of them get pretty bad, like when she falls down the stairs."
"Anakin, I don't think she's falling down the stairs."
Anakin's stomach twisted. "You mean...?" he couldn't choke out the rest of the sentence.
"And how does she respond when you ask her what happens?" Obi-Wan asked, voice a little croaky.
"At first she would get super flushed and look all sheepish," Anakin forced the words out. "She just tells me now, as soon as she walks in. I just thought she got more comfortable with me...."
"Comfortable, yes," Obi-Wan agreed softly. "Comfortable with telling lies, once you believed her. And probably very good at telling them."
Anakin hated how it made so much sense. "Children are brutal...."
"You know they are," Obi-Wan whispered. "And they can be so deceptive as well. I can't think of anyone who would have reason to pick a fight with Ahsoka."
"She's not fighting back," Anakin decided. "Her knuckles are never swollen and she would definitely win a fight, so... oh stang."
Reality hurt.
"Why would she let them beat her up?" Anakin whispered.
"There are many reasons," Obi-Wan hummed. "And if you talk to her, she might be willing to share them." He gestured up at the chrono mounted on the wall, and Anakin shot out of his chair. Ahsoka should be getting back to their quarters right about now, and if he hurried he'd be able to catch her and sit her down before she slipped away.
Anakin tore down the hallway, ignoring the nasty looks of other Jedi as he thundered by. His heart raced with every step. And when he reeled around the corner, it dropped.
Ahsoka had paused in front of their quarter's door, fingers hovering reluctantly in front of the keypad. Her head whipped around and her eyes blew wide. Scarlett dripped from one of her lekku. Anakin's brow puckered.
"Master," Ahsoka breathed. "I, uh, didn't think I'd run into you here." The way she tilted her head away proved there was something on her lek she didn't want him to see.
"I was at Obi-Wan's," Anakin told her, ordering his words carefully. "We... talked."
Ahsoka gulped. "About....?"
Anakin stepped closer. Ahsoka shuffled back. He stepped forward again, reaching out before his padawan could back away again. Gently, Anakin maneuvered her around until he could see the side of her head she'd been hiding, and his stomach twisted with nausea and hot fury.
Her lek was positively shredded, the wounds mottled with splotchy bruises and drenched in red. Anakin let his hand slide down her arm, hoping to squeeze her hands. But when he got to her wrist, she flinched so violently that he lost his grip.
Anakin's eyes darted down and his gut of knots tightened. One of her knuckles was twice the size it should be, the adjacent finger hanging at an odd angle. Bruises traced up to her wrist.
Anakin's mechanical hand tightened enough to lock. "Who did this to you?"
"Nobody," Ahsoka whispered, voice shaking. "I fell down the—"
"Tell me who did it," Anakin growled. "I know you didn't fall down the stairs."
Ahsoka flinched away. "I can't...."
"Ahsoka, I swear—-"
"No! You'll make it worse, you'll go down there and make a big show and everyone will see it and—"
"I'm trying to help you! Tell me who it was!"
"Or," came an accented voice, and Obi-Wan stepped around the corner, "you could tell me what the issue is, and I could have a conversation with some of your instructors, and Anakin could take you to the Halls of Healing."
Ahsoka hesitated, but Obi-Wan bent down and offered his ear. She steadied herself with a breath before whispering something Anakin couldn't hear, and Obi-Wan nodded.
"Take her to the Halls, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, giving Ahsoka's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I'll take care of everything, my dear."
///
Anakin couldn't tell if it was bruising or embarrassment that had the blue of Ahsoka's montrals several shades darker than usual. The healer had stepped out of the room to find more supplies that would better cater to the sensitive Togruta headgear.
"Obi-Wan will take care of it," Anakin said for what must have been the millionth time. "He'll—"
"Do what?!" Ahsoka finally snapped. "Give me a chaperone to walk me to every class? Lock me up in my cabin until I go stir crazy?!" She reached up and tugged at the temporary bandages.
Anakin shook his head and tried to fight off the guilt pouring through him. "You're strong, Ahsoka. Very strong."
"Not strong enough," she muttered.
"You're not giving yourself credit," Anakin argued, pulling her wrist away before she completely ruined the thin bandages. "You could beat all those kids up."
"But–"
"You're fighting in a kriffing war, Ahsoka, you can take on a few younglings! And don't tell me they're bigger than you, that doesn't matter."
She chuckled, a deserpate, dry rattle. "The moment I hit back, they'll get me in huge trouble."
"No, they won't."
She gave him an exhausted look.
"They won't because I'm giving you permission to punch them until they're black and blue and red, got it? If any of your instructors get after you, just tell them to take it up with me. Trust me, they will, especially if it's Windu."
Ahsoka stared down at her little finger cast. "Really?"
"I promise," Anakin said, taking her uninjured hand and giving it a squeeze. "Punch those little gits as hard as you can."
///
Obi-Wan didn't completely agree with the whole punching situation, but he didn't object to it either. He simply assured Ahsoka that he'd spoken with all her instructors and that she wouldn't be blamed for defending herself. Something mischievous glinted in his eyes as he said it, and Anakin didn't hide his smirk.
Anakin waited on the edge of his seat all day while Ahsoka attended her daily lessons. He kept his comm on him, in case one of the instructors called him. But no calls came and the time crawled by.
When the door finally swished open, Anakin sprang to his feet. Ahsoka lingered in the doorway for a minute, hands tucked behind her back as Anakin looked her up and down. He saw no bruises, no burns, and no blood. But she still kept her hands hidden.
"Show me." Anakin stuck out his hand, and Ahsoka bearly hesitated before plopping her fingers into his palm. She looked nearly smug.
Her knuckles were a bit swollen and stained with faint bruises, but it was nothing a basic med kit couldn't fix. And Anakin knew exactly where these bruises came from.
Ahsoka grinned at him, effectively re-splitting a scabbed cut in her lip. "I beat them all up. You should've seen them run!"
"I bet it was rich."
"It was."
Ahsoka never "fell down the stairs" again.
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Words: 1,891
Published: 3/14/24
Speedy little disclaimer, please don't punch people, it will likely not solve your life problems :)
Requests are still not open (this also includes asking for second parts to anything from now on, unless I specifically say otherwise) but hopefully that'll change soon.
Hasta luego, peoples!