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Chapter Text

“… about…. Anakin?”

Anakin twitched as he heard his name. The voices were familiar but they sounded kind of distorted, as if heard through a thick membrane. His body felt weightless, kept in a warm embrace not unlike bacta. More bits of conversation soon reached his ears.

“… can feel… force presence from inside…”

He stretched his limbs, then frowned as his fingers met a viscous sort of resistance. He pushed. The barrier stretched, unbroken. He pushed more. His muscles weakly strained, his fingers clawed at the odd material, until finally something broke. 

He slipped past the coconous thing that held him and landed on all three on the hard floor. Disoriented, Anakin opened himself to the Force. Multiple Light presences immediately pressed on his senses, almost unbearable. He was in Coruscant’s Jedi Temple, he realised.

“Anakin?” Ahsoka's voice called.

“Did he get out?” Obi-wan's voice answered.

“No, it’s just some tooka.”

Anakin blinked, trying to shake remains of murky liquid out of his eyes. His spine felt wrong, forcing him into the awkward position of leaning his hand on the floor for balance. His mechanical hand was strangely missing.

Anakin finally succeeded to somewhat clear his vision. His blurry sight spotted an Ahsoka-colored shape and an Obi-wan-looking one, a few meters away from him. They looked weirdly tall for the distance.

Anakin vaguely remembered the fiasco of the last mission they had been in. They had been chasing Dooku through some kind of old Separatist base after crash-landing his escape ship. 

And theirs, but that was not Anakin’s fault, no matter whatObi-Wan said.

They had soon discovered the separatist base had been built above some Sith Temple remains, whose underground tunnels were very much still in perfect shape. At some point, they reached a dead end. Dooku was gone and a twisted feline statue stood in front of them, like some secret passage entryway, so Anakin had touched it despite Obi-Wan's protestations.

He didn’t remember much after that.

Had Obi-Wan and Ahsoka found something in that destroyed Temple to grow them into giants? Impracticable, but useful in future battles. Anakin would have to ask for the stuff.

“Hello, little kitty.”

He looked around, expecting to see the famous tooka that got his master and padawan attention, but failed to see any. Apart from them and the globulous cocoon structure that took most of the space, the room was empty.

On the contrary, Ahsoka was looking at him, giant hand held in offering. Rather than non-threatening, her crouch had all the tension of a predator on the hunt.

Anakin stepped back on instinct. To his shock, he also felt his ears flicking down. He did not remember being able to do that.

“Snips”, he tried to growl in warning.

A mew was all that escaped his throat.

His spine was still stuck, refusing to let him in an upright position. His last memory was of the weird feline statue. Anakin did not like where this led.

Fiery hands came closer to pick him up, and Anakin hissed. His back his tail? hit the smooth membrane he had broken from earlier. 

As more meow uselessly escaped his mouth, Anakin gave up trying to speak and lowered his mental shields.

Snips. Stop.

Ahsoka slightly relaxed her crouch and tilted her head, eagerness morphing into something closer to curiosity. She glanced behind her.

“Have you finished checking the cocoon, Master?”

Obi-wan's voice answered from nearby, his body half hidden by said cocoon as he tested it with various devices.

“Yes. The gap in the membrane seems to finally allow readings inside it. Although the data is odd… it claims there is no life sign, even though I could swear I feel Anakin nearby. Is something the matter?”

“Well, mostly something strange…” She glanced back at him, and Anakin winked. “For some reason, this tooka reminds me of Skyguy.”

Because that’s me, dummit.

This time, he put more strength behind his message when he opened the infant bond he had with Ahsoka.

The effect was immediate as Ahsoka jumped back and answered through the bond.

Anakin?

Obi-wan's head popped up from behind the cocoon membrane.

“Did you find something?”

“I don't know,” Ahsoka answered while staring at Anakin. “The tooka just spoke to me through the padawan-master bond.”

I can do it again if you want, Snips.

Anakin was torn between the frustration of his friend’s slow guesswork and the amusement from the shock pulsing in waves from Ahsoka.

He watched as she took a Jedi-deep calming breath.

“Master…. I think the tooka is Anakin.”

He sent her a wave of mental applause.

Obi wan promptly stopped his investigation of the cocoon to join Ahsoka’s side, right in front of Anakin. He felt the other Jedi probe at his Force presence. When Anakin lowered his mental shields for him, a spike of surprise rippled through his unbroken padawan-master bond with Obi-Wan, although it was soon hidden back under the older man's impassable façade.

Having confirmed Ahsoka’s guess, Obi-Wan arched an eyebrow.

“Really, Anakin? A tooka?”

Anakin defiantly maintained Obi-Wan's stare. It’s not as if he had chosen this shape. He had just woken up that way.

“Can you speak?”

Anakin shook his head, a frustrated meow escaping his throat instead of a no.

“Ahsoka said…”

Anakin channeled his thoughts back into his old padawan-master bond, hoping his “voice” would reach beyond Obi-wan's walls.

I can speak through the Force.

Obi-wan caressed his beard, a habit of his when he plunged deep in thoughts. His old Master must have been calculating the thousands of implications to the war and Temple life of having Anakin stuck into a speechless tooka form. Or perhaps he was thinking about all the new ways Anakin could attempt Shadow missions now that his inconspicuous shape made up for his abhorrant lack of stealth, and pondering on how to drop him off in Quinlan Vos’ lap.

“This is most inconvenient.” 

Or he was just disappointed in him.

Don't tell me, Anakin sent back.

He didn’t want to think of the headache it would be to wield a lightsaber in this shape. He was pretty sure tookas did not have opposable thumbs. He wondered if cat-arm prosthesis existed, too. Maybe he could build one with a thumb.

Although…

What would Padmé say if she saw him like that?

Ahsoka’s comm ringing thankfully stopped the dangerous slope of his thoughts.

“Commander. Is the general back?”

Ahsoka glanced at him

“No, he is…” she paused. “He is still indisposed.”

Anakin’s tail twitched in annoyance. Apart from the whole tooka thing, he was fine. He mewed in disgruntlement and stepped towards Ahsoka, only to realise the comm was far too high for him to reach. Funny, he remembered his padawan being smaller.

“Dank farrik,” Rex's voice cursed from Ahsoka's arm. “We'll have to leave without him, then. The 501st have been called for urgent reinforcements to assist the 104th in the middle rim. 

“I understand.” Ahsoka turned towards Obi-Wan, almost stepping on Anakin in the process. “Will you be coming?”

The older Jedi shook his head.

“I'm afraid I cannot. The 212st is to be detached to the Free Trade sector in less than a standard hour.”

Looked like nothing had changed while Anakin was stuck in that cocoon. The war never stopped. 

He hated how Ahsoka suddenly looked small, shoulders bent by the responsibility of a whole battalion. A wave of rage against the war and the Jedi council who sent padawans alone to the front shook his heart. Ahsoka was clever and fast-footed, but she was still young, her braid not even half filled yet. It was far too soon for her to bear a General’s weight. 

Obi wan must have seen the nervous curl of her shoulders as well, because he lifted a reassuring smile in her direction. 

“You'll be joining with Plo Koon, right? Then he will be your referent General”

His words were also directed towards Rex, still on the call through the comm. Anakin's captain soon answered.

“Yes sir.”

Anakin pushed himself on his hind feet, trying and failing to appear on the comm's tiny hologram. He reached towards both of his bonds.

I can go too.

Plo Koon could be referee or whatever, but there was no need for Ahsoka and the 501st to go alone. Anakin could still fight.

Ahsoka looked at him, then looked at Obi-Wan, who shook his head and signaled for her to end the call. Anakin's protest was cut short as Ahsoka leaned on the comm to speak.

“I'll be here in five. See you soon, Rex.”

Sometimes Anakin wondered whether he or Obi-Wan was Ahsoka's master, with how she took the older man's advice above his own.

You should have told Rex I was coming, he complained.

“You're not going, Anakin. Not in this shape.” 

Why not?

“You’re…” Obi-wan vaguely gestured at all of Anakin.

Anakin scoffed. Such Force-based interference had never halted him. It's not as if Obi-Wan could stop him: as Anakin grew into a Jedi Knight, he was not subject to his former Master’s authority anymore.

He walked towards the door, decided to climb onto the Twilight, when two hands slid under his belly to pick him up. He hissed, claws out, but the hands’ owner held him tight. Anakin soon found himself plastered against a warm chest, unable to move.

“We still don't know what happened to you nor how to turn you back. It's safer for you to stay in the Temple for Master Vokara to run a few tests.”

Obi-wan's chest rumbled as he spoke, the vibration tingling Anakin's feline bones. Allied with the warmth flooding their bond, it should have been soothing. Thanks to the content of the words themselves, it was mostly infuriating.

Anakin hissed again, not liking in the slightest the decision the older Jedi was trying to push on him. His hackles were raised and his claws threatened to sink into Obi-Wan’s skin.

I’m not letting Ahsoka and the 501st go alone.

Obi-wan hushed him.

“Don’t fret. I’ll join them with the 212st as soon as our assignment is finished.”

But Anakin himself wouldn’t be here. He trusted his men, he just… he had a bad feeling about letting them out of his sight.

Knowing Obi-Wan, arguing was useless at this point. The man wouldn’t shift from his position. Anakin squirmed as best as he could, but his former Master hold was surprisingly secure. Anakin had no idea where he had learnt to hold small animals like that.

Fact was, Anakin was locked in Obi-Wan’s arms.

Snips, he attempted to plead.

His traitorous padawan didn’t make a single move to help him. Instead, she turned toward the exit and waved.

“Get well soon, Skyguy.”

He was well. Just a bit smaller. Bitterness spread on his tongue. No one ever forbadeYoda from going to the front.

Not long after Anakin had to helplessly watch Ahsoka disappear, Obi-Wan let him go. Anakin smoothly landed, pettily sauntering as far away from his former Master as he could with another hiss. The effect was rather lost on the perfectly composed Jedi.

“Stay in this room, Anakin. You'll be back in the war soon enough.”

Far too soon, the older man’s presence mournfully echoed.

Anakin lurked near the walls, not granting any response. He made a show of sulking in one of the corners of the room, obediently staying put. Beneath his fur, his muscles rolled, ready to spring at a moment's notice.

Obi-Wan sighed and followed Ahsoka’s steps towards the exit. Anakin waited, paws coiled under him, feeling all the benefit from inhabiting the body of a patient predator. He waited. Then waited some more. 

Just a few centimeters away…

Obi-wan opened the door.

 Anakin sprung faster than a bullet. He crossed the room in record times, a dark shadow passing by the widening opening before the older man could react.

“Anak—”

Anakin didn’t stay around to hear the rest of Obi-Wan’s sentence, racing through the Temple. Ahsoka hadn’t left that long ago, meaning with a bit of luck, the ship would still be docked. The Force powered his paws as he accelerated, its song mixing with the wind howl alongside his ears in an exhilarating symphony. 

When he reached the take off bay, the Twilight engines were roaring, but the ramp was still out. By the time he reached it, it was retracting, increasing by each second the jump he would have to make to sneak inside.

Still, he was faster. Anakin didn’t know how high tookas usually jumped, but he was certain this body could do it. The Force gathered and exploded as he leaped, charging into the ship entrance before it could rise out of his reach.

He nimbly landed, heart thundering from the race. He made it.

“Skyguy?!” Ahsoka cried out a few meters away from his landing spot.

Anakin climbed onto one of the hangar's many crate piles, then proceeded to thoroughly clean his body of any dust that had stuck to him while he crossed the Temple at lightning speed. It was vital for a feline to be clean, he remembered from his padawan courses. He was not using an excuse to ignore his troops' shocked looks.

Plus, the soothing brush of his tongue along his fur felt surprisingly good.

Chapter Text

Silence reigned over the soldiers as the ship rose in the air. Anakin caught several glances from clones and not-so-subtles back and forth between Ahsoka and Rex, but he let them slide. They’d have more than enough time to ask him questions once they reached the rest of the battalion and joined hyperspace. 

The loud ringing of a comm broke the peace before that could happen however. Everyone’s gazes shifted from Anakin to Ahsoka’s wrist. She turned it on.

“Master Kenobi?”

A tiny blue version of Obi-wan’s head floated above her hand. 

“Ahsoka. I believe you have a stowaway aboard.”

She looked at Anakin. He winked at her, not moving from his perch.

“We do.”

Tiny blue Obi-Wan pinched the bridge of his nose. Anakin resisted the urge to jump from his crate to bat at him. His claws sank comfortably into the soft-good-smelly wood instead.

“Anakin cannot fight right now. Please keep him away from battles.”

“I’ll do my best,” Ahsoka assured.

“Thank you.”

A long-suffering sigh like only a man who had raised a child from nine could make, echoed from the other end of the line, then the call ended. Ahsoka turned around then smirked at Anakin.

“So, do you wanna test this shape, Skyguy?”

He answered with a smirk of his own.

I knew you were not boring, Snips.

They retreated to a less crowded part of the hangar. While Anakin was sure he made quite the attraction, now that they were in space, most clones would have to reach their station and prepare for battle. This left the part of the Twilight’s hangar they used for training mostly free.

Ahsoka handed him his lightsaber. Anakin considered it for a moment, wondering how to wield it. His paws were disappointingly unable to hold any object. The Force worked, but the focus it asked for precise manipulation would leave him wide open during battle and the interference of the kyber crystal was impracticable. Left with one solution, he carefully picked the handle in his mouth, one tooth over the activation button.

The blue blade buzzed to life under Ahsoka’s applause.

He waved it around a bit, testing the limited range of movement his neck allowed. Too little to his taste. Maybe if he added some jumps to widen his reach—

His tooth slipped. The lightsaber turned off.

He spit it back out, frustrated.

This doesn’t work.

“Are you sure? Maybe it’s just a matter of technique.”

Anakin doubted that. All throughout, his hold on the blade had felt odd, one movement away from escaping his maw. Nevertheless, he grabbed it again, clenching his teeth until they almost dented the metal. His tongue caught on one of the handle’s sharp edges, and a more liquid taste of iron soon seeped into his mouth.

Gathering his paws under him, Anakin attempted a poor demonstration of Ataru. His teeth slipped again, and to add injuries to insult, another sting bloomed on his tongue from the sharp metal edges.

Anakin let it go, disgusted.

He would have to fight without a blade.

Ahsoka’s gaze had left his embarrassing performance some moment ago, eyes glazed but brain no doubt hard at work from the twitch of her lekkus. Her intense pondering must have led her somewhere because she suddenly hit her palm with her fist. 

“I have an idea!”

Anakin fell from the air, interrupted mid-attempt at a summersault by the loud noise. Adrenaline threw his heart into a wild race.

What did you find?

He trotted towards her, hiding with more or less success the limp his mis-landing had just caused. The injury felt rather unfair, as he was pretty sure tooka always landed on their feet, but he knew better than to bring his padawan’s attention to it. Who knew when she’d suddenly side with Obi-Wan.

“Just wait. I’ll be back.”

True to her promise, Ahsoka was back a few minutes later, triumphantly holding a small tube.

What is it?

“Organic friendly glue! Like this, we can fix your lightsaber on your paw.”

Anakin looked suspiciously at the tube, then at his front paw. Did he want to know where Ahsoka got such a specific glue from? Probably not. 

Sticking the lightsaber handle directly on him sounded like a bad idea… But it also sounded like it could work. He gave her the limb to work with.

Soon enough, the lightsaber handle was fixed parallely to his front paw, in such a way that didn’t hinder his walking but allowed him to turn the blade on by a simple press of his muzzle. Only issue was, it was angled in such a way it would only pierce the floor if he didn’t stand on his hindlegs. Anakin really needed to build himself a mechanical paw.

He jumped around, choosing to use the Force to press on the activation button instead. The blade seamlessly cut the air whenever he used it with a satisfying woosh. No matter how Anakin waved it, it held strong, sticking reliably to his fur. 

Snips, it’s perfect! This works! he happily sent along the bond.

Thumbs up and a smile answered him.

Growing more and more familiar with this new configuration, Anakin decided to try the kata he had been training earlier. He jumped, twirled, then extended his front paw to cut an invisible enemy—

Then promptly forgot he was missing his other front paw and landed on his head.

Thankfully, his feline and battle-honed instincts led him to roll safely rather than becoming a floor-pancake.

Less thankfully, the same battle-honed instincts had ensured he never stopped pressing on the lightsaber activation switch with the Force. He winced as a loud bang resounded behind him.

Anakin nervously turned around to survey the damage. The first thing he noticed was a wide gash on the floor, where the plasma blade had slashed it. He guessed it was a good thing the hangar had a stocking space below, or the Twilight would have suffered a brand new breach. 

The second thing he noticed was the pitiful sight of a cleanly cut wing, engine included, of one of their lambda shuttle. 

Anakin released his blade and glanced at Ahsoka. She played with her back lekku, appearing as nervous as he felt.

“Maybe… let's not go with that.”

Yes.

Anakin couldn’t agree more. It was better not to give Obi-Wan any more arguments in his inevitable coming lecture.

He turned to the shuttle, wondering how to fix it. They’d definitely need it in the coming battle. From what Ahsoka had told him, they still had a few hours before reaching Plo Koon. Perhaps he could use that time for some moving meditation. He was pretty sure he had left spare parts somewhere in the storage room…

As Anakin focused on the intricate pieces that made the engine, pondering how much he could improve that lambda?? shuttle while fixing it, the external world soon faded into background noises.

Anakin had almost finished re-assembling an engine for the shuttle, and was considering soldering the wing back together, when the eager presence of two clones interrupted his meditation (much more important than just tinkering, yes Obi-Wan).

He slowly lowered the cloud of levitating tools he had raised around him before it could hit one of the adventurous clones, then opened his eyes.

“General,” Fives greeted.

The trooper was unusually stiff. Echo stood a few steps behind him, wrangling his hands a bit too nervously to Anakin’s taste.

“Echo and I wondered…” Fives paused. Red climbed up his ears.

Anakin twitched, impatience building in his chest. Nervousness, more than worry or fear, distorted the two men's presence. Had something happened? Did someone repaint all the clone armors with something like the Chancellor Palpatine memes they found all over the battalion two months ago? Had Jesse launched a rocket from the Twilight while they were in hyperspace, and triggered a curious chain reaction? He mentally urged the vod to speak.

Echo finally stepped forward, speaking so fast Anakin almost didn’t hear him.

“We wanted to know if we could pet you?”

Anakin froze mid tail-swing, taken aback. Many of his men had the habit of petting whatever wildlife they found on-planet, sometimes even attempting to clandestinely bring them aboard. Anakin couldn’t count the number of times he had to track a wompa rat or a porg who had escaped its bunk confinement and was triggering alarms in the vent or gnawing on generator cables.

Hesitation bubbled in his throat. The tooka shape left him more vulnerable than he liked, and although he respected and loved his men, it was another thing entirely to let them pet him like yet another found animal. Still, the constant yearning for the comfort of touch that haunted his chest called for the convenient excuse his men offered. Some tooka instincts must have slithered in as well, as even now, he struggled not to go brush himself against them.

Jedi were not supposed to be prideful.

Anakin gave in to his instincts, brushing against Fives’ leg as permission. The clone gasped, then sat down to let his fingers trim through his fur with a sigh of contentment. 

“General, your fur is so soft.”

Golden thread floated away with the clone’s hand, and a wave of good filled Anakin’s nerves. A purr rumbled low in his throat. He let it, leaning closer to the clever hand that removed an itch he didn’t even know he had.

Another hand soon joined as Echo sat as well, careful to still give him space. He was pretty sure future-him would hate him for the embarrassing way his body curled into being petted, yet current-him couldn’t bring himself to care. It was fine, anyway. He trusted Fives and Echo.

“It is soft,” Echo whispered with an air of wonder.

Anakin wished he could speak to his men to thank them, or tell them to remove that growing itch just a bit more right, but non-Force Sensitives would never be able to hear him. He wasn’t even sure he could formulate a sentence anyway, amidst the buzzing warmth that currently hijacked his brain. 

One of the hands curiously wandered down his front paw, then came to a stop as it caught on the glued lightsaber. Anakin repressed a whine as the petting stopped.

“General, I'm almost afraid to ask, but… Why do you have a lightsaber glued to your paw?”

Anakin stared, then slid under Echo’s arm to let the blunt nails run along his spine. What his men didn’t know was best staying that way.

“I’ll help you take it off,” Fives said, standing back up to disappear into the hangar exit. He soon came back with a small object in hand, not unlike when Ahsoka had gone to fetch the glue. This time, what Fives held was an organic-friendly glue dissolver.

Echo looked at his brother with a look of shock on his face.

“Where did you get that?”

“Always have one in my bunk. You never know when Jesse and Hardcase will plan for the next prank.”

Anakin let him have his paw, satisfied that Echo continued to run his hand on his fur while Fives worked. His chest rumbled so loud he never noticed an additional arrival in the hangar.

“Skyguy, I was wondering if—” Ahsoka stopped mid-sentence, and Anakin jumped on his feet, suddenly alert.

The relaxed posture of his padawan assured him there was nothing wrong, apart from her surprise at the scene. Anakin’s muscles slowly unwind themselves. The adrenaline spike hadn’t totally removed the nice buzz floating in his brain, so when Echo’s hand came back, Anakin curved into it.

Ahsoka’s presence soon colored itself with a sense of yearning. Anakin internally chuckled and twitched his tail in invitation. 

Join us, Snips.

He trusted Ahsoka as much if not more than any of his men. There was no reason not to let another clever hand chase the itches. He might have to go hide soon before the whole 501st chased him trying to touch his fur however. 

In the meantime, his spot on Fives’ lap felt like the best couch. 

The rumble of his purrs filled the hangar as he dozed off to sleep.