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”Have you seen Anakin?” Ahsoka asks, tapping Rex on the shoulder to get his attention. She quickly discovered that it was difficult to be noticed when you were the shortest person in a room full of exceptionally tall men.
Rex gives her a nervous nod.
”He’s… very busy right now,” he tells her, his voice slightly louder than usual so she can hear him over the chattering of the rest of the 501st.
”With what? Reports? I usually help him with those. Besides—I need to ask him what his count was today,” she explains.
”Er… count?” Rex repeats.
Ahsoka nods.
”Mhm! It’s a game that we play during every battle to see who can take down the most droids. It’s fun,” she tells him, bouncing up and down on her toes as she speaks.
”Huh,” Rex replies. So the General found a way to make war fun for this kid. And the boys really had a bet going on if he’d be a good master or not.
”Well anyways, I checked in his quarters and couldn’t find him. Do you have any idea where he could be?” Ahsoka continues.
Rex sighs. He, in fact, knows exactly where Anakin is. He also knows that the last thing that Anakin wants is for Ahsoka to see him like this.
”He’s… dealing with something right now,” he says slowly. “He should be available in a little while.”
He prays that she’ll take the hint and leave the subject alone, but then again, this is Ahsoka he’s talking to. He isn’t very surprised when she says,
”Well, why can’t you just tell me what he’s doing?”
Her arms are crossed over her chest now, and he knows that he isn’t getting out of this one. With a sigh, he waves her along behind him, and heads in the direction of the medbay.
When they arrive, he can tell that his commander’s anxiety levels have risen due to their location.
”It’s… not as bad as you think. Your master just has trouble letting people see him struggle,” he explains.
”You’re really not making me feel much better,” Ahsoka replies, trying to see past him while he blocks the window.
”Well, just know that it looks a bit scarier than it really is.”
She just nods along as he opens the door, and watches while he whispers something to Kix as soon as they enter.
”Right this way, Commander,” the medic says, waving Ahsoka and Rex behind him.
They follow him into a room off to the side and he pulls the door open so they can walk in, before heading back over to his other patients.
The first thing that Ahsoka notices is the smell. The room smells… odd. Like medicine, but not the bad kind—like something that she isn’t used to.
The second thing that she notices is a cloud of fog in front of the couch—and her master behind it.
She walks a few steps closer so she can see him through the translucent air, suddenly making out the image of a mask over his face, only allowing his wide eyes to show.
”Don’t take it off, General!” Rex calls, taking a seat beside him as Anakin reaches up to remove the object from his face. “Your asthma doesn’t make you any less in her eyes.”
”Asthma?” Ahsoka asks, sitting on her master’s other side. “That’s what you were hiding?”
”He just didn’t want to freak you out with his treatment, kid,” Rex tells her.
”That’s a stupid thing to think I’d freak out over,” she mutters, crossing her arms over her chest. She’s a little offended that they really think that little of her. It’s a kriffing mask.
She knows that Anakin doesn’t want her to know that he has any weaknesses, but how could she not know when she’s one of them?
Anakin pats her on the shoulder.
She smiles, listening to the way that he inhales and exhales slowly every few seconds.
”It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” she tells him with a shrug. “I can’t eat half the food that you buy because I’m a togruta, but instead of being embarrassed by it, I just appreciate that you help me by learning to make food that I can have. It’s the same thing, really. I just want to help you.”
“Well said, little one,” Rex compliments her.
She grins at him while Anakin tucks her under his arm as a wordless thank you.
Keeping time with him, Ahsoka begins breathing in and out, slowly, slowly, slowly…
She hears Rex join in along with her after a few moments, and before she knows it, she’s fast asleep on the shoulder of the person she loves most in the whole galaxy.