Right well this one is set very early in Ahsoka's apprenticeship, you can probably tell from the mood of this story. I tried to tell it in a very nonchalant way and I wanted Ahsoka to still have that 'I am invincible' attitude that she seemed to have in the Clone Wars film.

I actually had a lot of fun with this, it was originally designed to be part of a five chapter fic titled 'The Five Time Ahsoka Tano Saved Her Master...And The One Time She Didn't' but I lost inspiration for it but wanted this to materialise somewhere because I liked writing this, it's not often that I get to write Ahsoka so carefree and blissfully ignorant to the huge dangers that surround her.

Once again, they had found themselves deployed to the mineral-rich planet of endless crystalline structures. Big, blue and beautiful; as high as the sky, Ahsoka had once proclaimed...months ago. It was hard to believe that it had been a whole 3 months since she was last here; it was like it was only yesterday.

It was exactly as she remembered it. Of course, there were a few more toppled and decimated towers layering the ground than the last time, but the pure nostalgia still hit her. Only seconds later did the sadness.

This planet had once been so beautiful. It had been so precious, especially to her. This planet was the place she'd met her Master, it was the place she'd become his Padawan. It held a special place in her heart.

She gingerly clambered over a fallen structure that had shattered and splintered in a various places; pointy shards of death glistening so perfectly in the sun. It was as if they beckoned her to come closer, Ahsoka smirked and scoffed a little – perhaps she would've accepted the offer if she was as gullible as Skyguy.

"I heard that." Her Master grumbled behind her good-naturedly. He was picking up the rear of the group, leading her take the lead...for once. It wouldn't last long; Ahsoka was counting down the seconds until he felt like intervening. He'd barge up to her and proclaim 'it's about getting the job done right.'

Which he, obviously, didn't trust her to do. Honestly, she'd been his Padawan for 3 whole months, surely that was more than enough time to become more than proficient at leading a squad - or so she thought.

He was in a surprisingly good mood, perhaps it was because they had just been contacted by the council. Once they finished here, they were being put on a two week meditative retreat. She just couldn't quite proclaim the joy in her heart at the mere thought of a lovely routine being put into place for her, with her days being wasted in classes, studying...like a real live girl. Ahsoka rolled her eyes, if she had it her way, she wouldn't step within a 100 metres radius of any of those classes, she learnt way more in the field, as she so frequently reminded her Master.

Ahsoka stopped suddenly, holding her hand up in the air to signal to the group. She poked her head around the corner, being completely aware of the voices she could hear close by.

Two droids, no doubt sentinels on patrol, chattering away in a manner which informed Ahsoka that they had no clue they were there.

They were close. They must be. There was no need for a patrol unless they were close to the facility described to them by Master Kenobi – who was late, as per usual.

"Obi-Wan should be here by now." Ahsoka very nearly jumped at the voice in her ear. Wasn't he supposed to be picking up the rear? She knew it wouldn't last.

"Well, he's not." Ahsoka replied snappily, stress taking over. What if Obi-Wan wasn't coming? What if something had happened? Her heart clenched at the thought. They hadn't heard from him in days. They had to presume he'd lost contact but would still be able to make the mission but...where was he? They couldn't afford to delay, the patrol should be switching any moment now – they only had a small window of opportunity and another wouldn't arise until morn.

She could practically hear the gears in her Master's head turning as he thought of what to do. Sometimes, only on very very rare occasions, she was glad her Master took control.

"We're going to have to assume Obi-Wan's not coming." His tone was suspiciously uneven and, had Ahsoka not been able to sense his worry, she would've demanded to know where the real Anakin Skywalker was.

But...shouldn't they at least try and contact Obi-Wan? What if he needed help? What if he had been hurt? How would they pull this off without him? She'd end up getting everyone killed. "But Master-"

Anakin put a hand on her shoulder for a few seconds. "He'll be okay." He could sense where her fears lay. "We all will be. We can pull this off. Just...stay close to me."

Ahsoka nodded, resisting the urge to bite her lip. This was the biggest mission she'd been on, even bigger than that assault on the monastery on Teth. This base was huge and armed to the teeth. How was she supposed to protect everyone if she could barely protect herself?

"Hey," Anakin's soft reprimand drew her away from her thoughts. "You'll do your best, and that's all anyone's ever gonna ask for, little one. No-one will condemn you. You can't save everyone." He smiled wistfully, though his eyes brewed from a tempest of anger, fear and...anguish, and Ahsoka was about to poke her nose in but Anakin quickly stood to his full height and began relaying the change of events to the men.

Ahsoka and Anakin were in the heat of the battle that had commenced; the fight for the facility. Of course, the fight they were participating in was only a distraction while Rex and a few select troopers went to overcharge the main reactor. A simple plan that should've already been done and dusted by now...where was Rex? What was taking so long?

Anakin was getting anxious.

Anakin's eyes flitted over to his apprentice periodically; a quick check to confirm she still possessed all of her limbs and hadn't managed to get herself into too much of a pickle. A half-smirk wormed it's way onto his face as Ahsoka threw herself into the middle of the next formation of droids; he liked this girl – she was as gutsy and courageous as he had been, perhaps that was how she'd so easily wormed her way into his heart.

Maybe he wouldn't screw this up as much as he thought her would.

Anakin turned when the force flashed a warning at him, watching with wide eyes as a small ball rolled towards him, a small circle of red light on top that blinked rapidly betrayed its purpose. He didn't have time to run, and the force screamed at him as his time drew to a close. The last thing he saw was the sight of his Padawan frozen with indecision and fear, staring white-faced at the blinking ball of destruction. He balked slightly. These Separatists could do what they liked to him...but they couldn't have her.

As the bomb exploded, Anakin instinctively threw his hands out and sent Ahsoka flying through the air, far away from the blast zone as the heat and power of the little weapon engulfed him. The young General was able to blissfully fade into unconsciousness after finding he'd done it; his Padawan had been too far from the bomb to be injured. She was okay. She was okay. He hadn't failed her.

A great pain that exploded in Anakin's chest roused him from unconsciousness and he lurched forwards with an almighty gasp as his drew breath into his empty lungs. Fire burnt angrily in his oxygen-deprived lungs as he scrambled to breathe.

"Don't panic, Sir." An unfamiliar voice told him steadily. He instinctively lashed out, opening his eyes wide and fearful. He was so tired. His head ached so much, and he was so...sluggish. "Sir, do you know who I am?"

Anakin looked up at the man restraining him slightly, trying to get a look at him – hard to do since the man decked out in white had an annoying habit of wobbling and splitting into three different men. "Clone." Anakin murmured, his voice hoarse and his throat burning from the effort. "Medic."

"Good, Sir. Do you know where you are?"

Anakin looked around, his mind spinning and dramatically slow – like his head was turning one second but his mind was a few minutes behind, not comprehending the change in posture for a few seconds after it had happened.

"Sir?" Anakin slowly looked up at the clone. "What's this planet called?"

Anakin shook his head and groaned in pain. "I don't-I. No. Can't. It's...I just..."

"It's alright if you don't know, Sir." The medic gently told the confused General. "This is Christophsis. Do you remember? We were sent here for the mission; the Separatist base." The medic was being careful to just give Anakin enough information to clear his confusion, and apparent amnesia, but not so much as to overwhelm him.

It took a few clumsy and groggy seconds for Anakin to blink and recall small details. His head pounded heavily with every word and image that came to mind. "Bomb."

"That's good, Sir. Yes, there was a bomb. You were caught in the blast."

One word came pummelling through Anakin's hazy consciousness; a name. However disorientated and dazed Anakin was this one word was enough to make his heart ache with worry and fear. "Ahsoka." What had happened to his Padawan? She'd had to carry on the battle without him. He'd never left her alone like that before. He'd never left her in command of an entire mission.

"The Commander sustained a blaster wound to her leg." Anakin drew a breath in. This was his fault – he should've been faster, he should've sensed the bomb earlier enough to send it coasting away. "But the droid that shot her was a poor shot, it grazed her and she's in a good condition. She's resting now."

Anakin let out that painful breath he'd been holding. Ahsoka was safe. Just a little bumped up, and he was most definitely checking that blaster shot out for himself – not that he didn't trust the medic's judgement, but rather that he needed to assess her injuries for himself or he'd never sleep. And yeah...he didn't really trust the medics judgement, not when it came to his Padawan.

"Obi-Wan?" Anakin attempted to sit up but found his stomach churning and his light flashed before his eyes.

"Easy, Sir." The medic helped him sit up. "General Kenobi engaged the enemy from the south as planned, Sir. Last I heard, they were still in battle."

"What's...what's wrong with me?" Anakin asked as he gasped and leant his head back against the cool wall.

"You've sustained a concussion. There's no sign of severe bleeding or head trauma but nonetheless you need to be careful for the next few hours." He explained in the detached drawl indicative of a trained professional. This must be one of Obi-Wan's medics, none of his were this aloof and unnerving, he'd broken them all of that habit years ago.

Anakin's head spun and he grabbed the bucket automatically held out to him and happily emptied his stomach. "Force, I'm seeing stars." He remarked once he was finished, blinking a few times in attempts to clear up his vision.

"Master!" A chipper young voice caused the pounding in his head to up it's tempo but he pushed aside the pain and looked over to the young girl that had just entered the tent. He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding when he saw that all that was to show for her injury was the bacta patch securely wrapped around her leg.

The girl plonked herself on the bed heavily, ignoring the medics protests and demands for her to be quieter, Anakin bristled slightly at the man's words – he wasn't fragile and certainty didn't need rest, Anakin irritably thought to himself.

"Sorry." Ahsoka responded to the man's scolding in a tone that conveyed that she was anything but.

"It's fine." Anakin waved away the medic's protest. He sat up even straighter, this time it didn't take quite as much energy and his head didn't pound quite as much. He turned his attention to Ahsoka, it took a few seconds for him to focus on the beaming girl, but when he did his eyes narrowed a little – the medic hadn't told him about what had caused that bulky wrist brace to be wrapped halfway up her arm.

"W-what happened?" He asked in an exasperated tone; it seemed that they could not go a single mission without her walking around with some awful war wound, normally caused by some over-confident, reckless plan on her part.

This child would be the death of him.

"I fell."

Anakin didn't buy it. He replied, in a disbelieving tone – the tone."You. Fell." He didn't even phrase it as a question, they both knew it was a lie.

"Yup." Ahsoka seemed to take great interest in studying the sturdy brace on her arm.

Anakin sighed, he'd used the tone on her and she was sat there, bold as brass, still attempting to pull off the lie she'd fabricated. He didn't understand how the tone didn't work on her. It had sure worked on him whenever Obi-Wan had used it on him as a child.

Was she immune to it?

Was that normal?

"So, if I was to ask Rex what happened, he would give me the same answer, eh? Need I remind you, Ahsoka, I don't take well to being lied to?" Anakin had her there and they were both well-aware of this fact. Though, this time, Ahsoka actually acknowledged it with a loud, over-dramatic sigh.

"I hit a wall."

"Voluntarily?"

"Yeah, it just looked so obstinate that I had to take a crack at-"

"Ahsoka." Anakin growled out in a manner that made Ahsoka pull her snarky retort back and snap her mouth shut. "What do you mean you hit a wall?"

"I was thrown through the air." Ahsoka hung her head.

Anakin's stomach churned slightly, though it wasn't from the concussion this time. "By?"

"You were a little forceful when you pushed me away." Ahsoka mumbled it under her breath in the hopes he didn't hear.

Anakin could've hit face palmed; he would've had his current concussion not been giving him enough head related problems.. "I did that?" Kriffing hell, they all knew he would be a failure as a Master but he was pretty sure none of them had thought physical violence would be on the cards for him. Obi-Wan was going to kill him, and if Obi-Wan didn't finish the job, he was sure the council would have no qualms in doing it for him.

"Master..." Ahsoka's whine brought him out of his musings. "It was an accident, it wasn't your fault. Besides, I would've been so much worse off had you not thrown me away. I'm going to be fine, it was only dislocated...that hardly constitutes such a reaction." It was almost like she had known what he'd been thinking...

Anakin narrowed his eyes. "You've gotten better at penetrating people's first level of consciousness."

He was referring to the highest, least guarded level of the psyche, the one responsible for those completely conscious thoughts you had. Even so, it was a great accomplishment; Ahsoka hadn't been so good with the mind arts.

See, the mind arts were exactly that, an art. They took skill and patience and delicacy. You were supposed to be subtle with the mind arts, like a burglar that sneaks around unnoticeably and routes through your stuff. Ahsoka, however, had a completely counterproductive habit of barging in like she owns the place; subtlety wasn't her strong suit.

Anakin smirked at the girl and tauntingly punched her arm, lightly though – he didn't need more child abuse charges dragged up in front of him. The council were already going to kill him.

Obi-Wan was right, teaching was a privilege. The feeling when Ahsoka completed something tricky or persevered on a task she'd been failing at; it was one of the best feelings he had. For the first time, he had something – someone - to be proud of because, force knows, he was not proud of any of his own achievements.

Despite his moment of sickening fondness over his Padawan, he was able to make a mental note to reinforce his shields and make it so that did not happen again. Anakin shook his head, if his 16 year old self had been able to see what he would become he probably would've let it all end in a fit of disgust on some god awful backwater planet. Who would've thought Anakin Skywalker could do...overprotective, overdramatic and pure...motherly?

Ahsoka put her hand on her Master's shoulder in a hilariously familiar way, like she was trying to do whatever her Master did to make her feel better. "Thank you for saving me, Master." The girl then seemed to have a thought and tilted her head up in a cocky manner. "Though I still think Master Kenobi was wrong: I would've fared fine on my own."

...and the secrets spill out. So she wasn't being all fond and caring and honest out of her own volition, Obi-Wan had made her come and talk to him. He should've figured. He had a few choice words he would very much like to throw at her but he'd already been in trouble with the council about the language he used around her; all because she'd started using it herself in the most inopportune moments – her meditation classes, for example.

"But..." Apparently Ahsoka wasn't finished. "...I still appreciate the gesture." She smiled sincerely at her Master, her eyes shining slightly in memory of the worry and fear she'd been put through while her Master was unconscious. "I am glad you're okay, Skyguy."

"And I you." Anakin smirked and offhandedly added. "Snips."

"Sir, we're outnumbered here. We need immediate reinforcements," was the desperate call for help that rang through the temporary medcentre a few klicks north of the main battle.

The medic was quick to pipe in. "Sir, with all due respect, you are in no state to leave this facility. You have a rather serious concussion."

"I can go." Ahsoka chimed from beside her Master, though her comment fell on deaf ears.

"I can't just leave them to be slaughtered."

"Sir, it's what we're made to do. We're dispensable" The medic reminded the Jedi.

"I can go."

Anakin shook his head furiously. "You're not dispensable, not to me, not to anyone."

"I. Can. Go." Ahsoka reiterated firmly,

The clone took a deep, steady breath; well aware of how his next statement would be received by the explosive young General. "General, I'm afraid that in these circumstances, due to the severity of your injury, I outrank you and therefore I will not be able to allow you to return to battle."

Ahsoka threw her arms up in the air and span around, looking at everyone gathered around. "Am I invisible?" She span back to face her Master and spoke in the most patronising tone she could. "Me. Go. You. Stay." She was sure he'd register the blatant jab at his intelligence.

"My head is fine." Anakin growled out, breathing deeply for a second as he released his irritation into the force. "Now isn't the time to be overly cautious"

Ahsoka let out a huff of pure annoyance and tuned out of the conversation. Her Master had selective hearing, it was official. She slumped against the medical trolley next to her Master's bed and absent-mindedly started twirling a scalpel in her fingers. "Hey, Master, can I dissect myself?"

Anakin still paid her no mind, he was too busy arguing with the medic and throwing everything he had at the clone. The clone, to his credit, was giving as much as he got. Ahsoka was quite amused at the scene, it was brilliant how the clone could be so respectful and yet so commanding to her Master.

Anakin shook his head, intent on going back out onto the battle field. He quickly walked past Ahsoka, heading to the end of the bed where his normal uniform was folded neatly – force knows he needed to get out of this hospital gown – and he quickly and efficiently snatched the scalpel from his Padawan's hands before she injured herself and put it back on the table.

"Stop it." He sternly reprimanded the little Togruta. "It's not a toy, Ahsoka."

It took all of Ahsoka's grace and maturity to not stick her tongue out and sneer at him.

But while his attention was on her she felt the need to get an answer to her question. "Can I go help Master Kenobi?"

"Absolutely not." Came Anakin's clipped reply, and his cool glare silenced the protests that were about to erupt from the girl.

Ahsoka sat down in the visitors chair and put her head in her chin. Evidently, her Master was purposefully being difficult today and completely disregarding her pleas to be involved in the actions. She almost chuckled when the medic threatened to anesthetise her Master – that would be fun to watch – but she could understand the medic's point, even she could see the state her Master was in. He was still quite concussed. He hadn't even noticed how she'd been manipulating the emotions of the room through the force in attempts to calm him a little.

Wait...he hadn't noticed that; not at all. He would've scolded her. He despised when she did that.

Well, what else could she get away with?

Ahsoka sat straighter as an idea came to her head and she smirked behind her hand.

While Ahsoka was beyond proud of her selfless actions, which had probably saved her Master's life, said Master couldn't quite share her sentiments. The med-droids were kind enough to devote all their attention to getting her Master back up as soon as possible. So, luckily for her, when she finally awoke in the medbay of the Resolute, her Master was already up and waiting...a lecture prepared on the tip of his tongue.

Turns out, Master's don't like it when you put your life in danger– Ahsoka made a mental note of that for future reference, thought she doubted she would ever actually use said note. Ahsoka grimaced a little as her Master's tone increased as he got more annoyed while reviewing her 'disobedient' actions. He apparently wasn't too pleased about her taking advantage of his concussion and using it to test her new found prowess in mind-tricks.

Ahsoka thought it was rather clever of her, to be honest, and it had gone off without a hitch. She'd been able to give the support needed to the troops so that Master Kenobi could go and finish the mission and blow up the reactor of this force-accursed facility.

Without her, there was no way Master Kenobi would've been able to leave the troops. She'd done well, yet nobody was acknowledging this. Well...Master Kenobi seemed quite amused by it all, but no-one had come over and been all 'nice job, Ahsoka' or 'you saved the day, Snips'. Nope, all she got was a boring lecture from Master Skywalker about proper Padawan behaviour, obedience and all that other good stuff that she couldn't remember since she'd long since tuned out.

Apparently nobody knew a good job when they saw it!

Ahsoka nodded every now and then and added a 'sorry, Master' to give the appearance of her paying attention but her stomach kept growling and her painkillers were wearing off so her little scrapes and gunshot wounds were aching a bit, so all she could think about was getting this over and done with since she had an endless list of places she'd rather be. No. 1 was the medbay for some kriffing painkillers.

Ahsoka flinched when she realised she'd been broadcasting a little and her Master had heard that last thought and wasn't overly pleased – the foul language hadn't exactly enamoured him either, he was cracking down on that since she was following his lead and cursing at will – and thus had proclaimed that a lecture 'wasn't good enough, this time' and had then proclaimed her 'grounded', force knows what that meant.

No, Ahsoka wasn't quite sure what this 'grounded' thing was. Perhaps it just meant she wasn't allowed to fly her fighter for a while. Yeah, grounded generally meant the 'grounding' of planes or fighters when conditions dictated it. She'd check the specifics of it later. She could live with that...it was better than full restriction to her quarters – her crèche Master had been fond of that one back when she was still a youngling. She'd hated it.

Ahsoka was also quite happy with herself, for more reasons than saving her Master. This had been the first proper time that Anakin had actually had to do more than give her a small reprimand, and Ahsoka had learnt from this new experience that when her Master was angry, he tended to forget things; such as, the small fact that he couldn't forbid her to go on missions for two weeks because they were on meditative leave, so wouldn't be eligible anyway.

So, Ahsoka leant back against her bed and smiled almost cockily. She was only restricted from flying, which wouldn't be happening anyway since she'd be at the temple. Well, this went better than she planned.

Unfortunately, the young Togruta's small cocky grin would disappear in record time when her Master had calmed down enough to explain exactly what grounded meant.

Though, despite her absolute horror at this childish punishment that had been bestowed on her, she felt her heart swell with some happiness; Anakin cared. He had been worried about her.

Ahsoka knew that her Master had accepted her now...but sometimes she forgot, so it was nice to be reminded that her Master did care about her because she cared so much about him; he was one of the most important people in her life, she respected him more than anyone.

Yes, it was nice to know that someone cared about her, Ahsoka decided that she liked that feeling very much. She liked to know that, should anything happen to her, that someone would care...that someone would be worried about her.

Years later, Ahsoka realised that when she'd woken after passing out from exhaustion because of that very difficult and draining battle - after very cheekily mind-tricking into letting her go – that was the very first time in her whole life where she'd felt loved. It didn't matter that Anakin was furious and worried and disappointed because the fact that he cared enough to feel those emotions had filled the little Togruta with joy. It was such a small thing but it meant the world to her.

It would always mean the world to her.

She'd been a cocky kid, an absolute pain, she knew that - she honestly did wonder why her Master had put up with her – but Anakin had put up with her, he'd done more than that: he'd loved her despite her irritating, disobedient and frankly appalling attitude. He'd stuck with her through everything and had made her aspire to be a better person because he led by example and just being around him made want to do more, to be more.

So, even though they had gone their separate paths, him staying a Jedi and her leaving to find something more, she would always keep what his lessons taught her – a part of him would always live inside her – and, because of that, wherever she was...he would be too.

She'd make him proud.