Signature Bonds - Star Wars TCW

Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I do not own the image. All credit goes to Renny08 on deviantart.

It had been years. Five years to be exact.

Ahsoka was now fourteen, a teenager, and Anakin was now nineteen. Both were older, stronger, but as they grew older, they had started to grow apart. They almost never saw each other during the day, as Anakin had more training than before, and Ahsoka was more absorbed in her studies that she couldn't afford to be behind in.

Now, the council was literally dropping a bomb on them. Ahsoka was to get a master, meaning she would be required to move in with whoever her master happened to be, so they most likely would never see each other.

Their bond hadn't put up with it to well; Ahsoka was loosing some of her energy, and Anakin wasn't quite as happy as before. Both of the Jedi were becoming quite moody, and people had started... avoiding them, to say the least.

Now, Ahsoka was standing in a cruiser, ready to land on Christophsis by herself. Her hands were resting on the hilt of her new green lightsaber. She could still remember the day she got it, and when she got back finding Anakin's crestfallen face when it wasn't blue. After she had proven that she could fight extremely well with it (although Anakin already knew this), he had been a bit less disappointed and started teasing her like she had him when he got his first lightsaber. Yes, in the matter of five years, Anakin had lost his lightsaber at least three times. Most Jedi never lost them, but here Anakin was, losing his every other mission.

Mission. That was one of the newer terms that had become quite common in the past few years. A war had begun, and now all of the Jedi, so-called "peace keepers", were being sent to aid clones in the battle field. Clones were another new development. They were soldiers, exact DNA copies of Jango Fett, a bounty hunter Mandalorian.

Anakin had worked with many clones, first Obi-wan's and then his own, but Ahsoka had never met them. She was protected from the war as of yesterday, but now she was preparing to enter a war zone. Ahsoka wondered what they'd be like; she had studied them, but she hadn't ever actually talked with one. As she looked around the crystalline battle field, she saw a couple hundred of the beings marching around and readying weapons, a few helping the injured.

Ahsoka shivered. She had known a few younglings a couple years back, the twins Siana and Skynodey, who had wanted to be healers in the temple. Now, they were likely to become field medics rather than physicians for Jedi.

As the cruiser came to land, she felt butterflies growing in her stomach. She knew she should have felt confident, but she felt anything but at the moment. What if she wasn't good enough for her master? What if she was a disappointment? What if she got sent back?

Ahsoka could have sworn she felt her heart stop beating at that thought before the cruiser jolted to a stop on the crystal ground. She took a deep breath, trying to settle her nerves before she watched the door open onto the turquoise, crystal planet.

It would have been pretty, Ahsoka supposed, if it hadn't been a witness to so much death and injury. Currently, the battle had ceased, but no one seemed at ease. The air was thick with distress and all of the soldiers seemed to be hopeless, but when they saw the cruiser, their eyes lit up a fraction, their stances were straighter than they were. As soon as they saw the occupant of the cruiser, they shriveled up again, hopeless.

She screwed up her face, irritation and confusion present in her features. They were not easy to get rid of; the presence of her soulmate had been absent for nearly a week, and she hadn't been getting proper sleep. Since they were older, they could technically be apart for a while, but it wasn't necessarily a good idea, especially since Ahsoka was still in her younger teenage years.

Stepping off of the boat, she nearly had a heart attack upon seeing the unruly mop of brown hair that was her soulmate. She jumped off of the cruiser and ran toward him, only stopping when she had crashed into him with a hug. As she did that, two large hands shoved her away, and she stood up, confused. It was him, not the clone, she was sure of it, but he didn't look at all happy to see her. Instead, he looked downright annoyed by her presence.

"Get off, youngling." He sneered, and she frowned, confusion filling her big, baby-blue eyes.

"What? Anakin," she protested, completely bewildered, but he only turned to ignore her. Obi-wan looked equally confused, but he didn't say anything.

Anakin didn't respond, looking back to the transmitter irritably. She looked around to see clones staring at her, and she immediately knew what was wrong. Anakin didn't want some little girl clinging to him and making him look soft.

The thoughts hurt more than she let on, but it still stung that he wouldn't want to be seen with her. She rolled her eyes and huffed, looking to Obi-wan and then gesturing to the clones in a suggestion. He nodded, a wry smile on his face as he ordered the clones to do whatever it was that needed to be done.

Ahsoka turned back to Anakin, a scowl plain on her features.

"So, you no longer want a little togruta tag-along, huh?" She questioned calmly. Too calmly for it to be sincere.

Anakin sighed and dropped his head before turning and looking to her. She didn't look angry. She didn't look happy. In fact, she didn't look like anything.

"It's not like that, Ahsoka. If the soldiers knew, they wouldn't listen-"

"Exactly. The great Master Skywalker would look too soft if he showed even the slightest bit of concern for his little bond-mate." She spit out the words 'bond-mate' like poison, her face now nothing short of furious.

"Ahsoka, it's not-" Anakin tried to protest, but she didn't even give him the chance.

"Yes, it is, and you no longer have a right to use that name. It's Tano to you, Master Skywalker." She sneered, turning to go back to the cruiser and back to the temple. Maybe she'd be accepted more there than on the battlefield where she couldn't even win a battle against her uncaring bond-mate.

He stared at her for a good five seconds before chasing after her and trapping her in his arms. She kicked and punched at him, but she couldn't do all that much with the way he had her pinned. Besides that, the bond wouldn't actually let her hurt him, even if he had hurt her.

"Let me GO! You can't do that anymore, SKYWALKER! You don't care about me, the weak little togruta soon-to-be padawan, NO ONE ever wanted me! No one ever CARED! Is it too wrong to wish for that for once?!" She screamed at him before going limp, tears threatening to fall. Ahsoka squeezed her eyes shut and stopped fighting, letting out a tiny puff of air. "I wouldn't want me, either."

Anakin shook his head, blue eyes wide before he dropped to the ground, holding her tight against him, forgetting about the clones watching. His face nuzzled into her neck, his breath tickling her sensitive montrals, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

"No. Ahsoka, no. I do want you with me. I do care. I-" He sighed, squeezing his own eyes shut. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I-I was told that- the clones weren't supposed to know, I guess. I- I love you, Ahsoka. I-" Ahsoka froze. He had never, not once, ever said those three little words. Never.

She turned and wrapped her arms around him, allowing him to kiss the dip in her montrals, a habit he had given up when he turned fourteen. Now, he didn't seem like so much of a jerk. It was quite a rapid turn around, but they were Anakin and Ahsoka, Snips and Skyguy, the Chosen One and his Bond-Mate and Apprentice.

Yes, apprentice. Shortly after their breakdown, she explained everything. Sure, he still got upset that she was his padawan, but it was because she was on the front lines, not because he didn't want an apprentice. He still got upset with her not listening, but there was one major change.

They knew neither would be left behind without the other for long.

---

Hey guys! I am such a slacker that I took almost a two-month break. I think the hiatus is over, but if something comes up, the hiatus will be at most two weeks. Not two months. :)

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a comment! :D

-Flaming Starbird