Luxsoka: A Love Story

A Week To Forget

 Ahsoka Tano, the seventeen-year-old Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, ran down an empty hall in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. She was in a mood beyond compare. Her arms were flying out behind her, and she was picking up speed near the corner when– 

BAM! She crashed directly into someone. 

The feeling of freedom was shattered on impact. She frantically tried to scramble out from whoever was on top of her, but they were too heavy for her to lift. 

"Ow," she mumbled, while executing and awkward roll out from under them. Once she was clear, she scooted to a safe distance away, preparing to figure out whom it was that she had just crashed into. Bracing herself and praying that it hadn't been Master Windu, who wouldn't take something like that lightly, she opened her eyes... 

...to find Master Skywalker, sprawled facedown on the floor and laughing his head off into the rough carpeting. 

As he rolled over, his laughter bringing tears down his face, Ahsoka caught sight of someone else standing a few feet away, desperately trying to hide a smile and uncontrollable giggles behind her hand. It was Senator Padme Amidala, a good friend of hers and Anakin's. 

Ahsoka couldn't help it. She joined into the crazy laughing fits, and the Senator was even forced to sit down on the floor to keep her balance. The young Padawan Learner felt like she hadn't laughed this hard in ages, and she was sure that Padme and her Master felt the same way. 

When they had finally recovered – and by some miracle, no one had come down the hallway by then – Anakin sat up. "W... Where were you going in such a hurry, Snips?" he asked, still shaking a little. 

"I, uh... Um, nowhere..." she said, trying her best not to look guilty. An intense blush finalized her failing grade in the matter. Kriff! She thought. I have to come up with a good excuse, and quick! 

Before she had crashed into Anakin, she had been on her way to see Lux Bonteri, the eighteen-year-old Senator for the planet Onderon. She was madly in love with him, and had made plans to spend time with him over the next week, which was her designated yearly meditative retreat.

Telling the truth would have been a death sentence. Well, not actually, but getting kicked out of the Jedi Order was the next worst thing in her book. 

In her discomfort, Ahsoka hadn't noticed Padme's critical stare. But what she did notice as when she looked over at Anakin, an elegant eyebrow raised. 

"Anak– I mean, Master Skywalker, I want to speak to Ahsoka for a moment," she said, adjusting her purple gown into a more dignified position. "You go ahead of me. My audience with the Jedi Council about the new security bill won't start for another few minutes, anyways." 

"Of course, Senator." He stood and was about to walk away, but stopped. "And Ahsoka?" 

She looked up. "Hm?" 

"If you're planning on running any more marathons down the Temple hallways, make sure you stay away from the crowded ones. I don't know how Master Windu or Master Kenobi would react if you ran into them too." 

Then, with his signature smile as reassurance that he wasn't mad at her, he left. As soon as he had rounded the next corner, Padme brought her fist down on the floor with a thump. Her expression was deadly serious. "Okay, who is he?" 

"What?" Ahsoka asked, confused and a little alarmed. "Who? I don't underst–" 

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about. The boy you've been seeing. Who is he?" 

At the phrase 'boy you've been seeing', she went stock-still, and at least three shades paler than her usual orange-tan skin tone. How had Padme known? Unless the Senator had been listening in on her comm conversations with Lux, she shouldn't have known anything! And besides, she had always made sure that they had only talked on a secure channel!