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Ahsoka sat on the window seat in the library that adjoined her room. Books surrounded her and lay abandoned on the floor. She stared out the window, the rain blurring the view. The sky was an angry shade of gray, but the lush green hills of Naboo were still gorgeous.
She sighed, it was barely audible with the roaring of the wind and rain crashing down on the roof.
No one was doing anything, well not anything interesting. She’d been down to breakfast, well it was more like lunch considering everyone had slept late – including Obi-Wan and Padme, very odd. Those two were always up with the sun.
Quinlan and Anakin had been working out, she was told, Cody still slept and she couldn’t find Rex anywhere. She’d retreated to her room and talked to Trace for a bit, but that just made her more lonely. Trace was on a job and wouldn’t be able to come for a few weeks at least.
“Hey kid,”
She looked up, Rex looked out of place in the library. He picked up a book and poked at the intricate leather cover, it looked comically small in his large hand.
“I’m so bored,” she moaned, dramatically sliding off the seat and onto the floor.
“Well hiding here with your books is not going to help,” Rex said, gingerly he placed the book back on the fireplace mantel.
“I wanted to go to the fair,” she pouted.
“We will when it’s not raining of course, Anakin agreed,”
“He did?” she perked up.
“Yes,” Rex smiled, “now c’mon let’s go find something to do,”
She bounced up, if Anakin agreed to go they would all have fun together. So far he’d been pretty mopey this summer and she was worried he wouldn’t want to go and deal with the crowds at the fair.
Her and Rex exited the room and clambered down the narrow stairway.
“Wanna cut and bleach my hair?” Rex asked.
“Sure, but I thought you were gonna grow it out?” she said reaching up and tugging at the shaggy bit behind his ear.
“I was going to, but it’s getting annoying,”
Hair was so strange to her, all the small strands seemed so troublesome to take care of. She’d helped Anakin brush his hair out on campaign when it got terribly knotted in humid environments. No wonder the clones kept their hair short, it seemed way easier.
In Rex’s fresher Ahsoka opened up the kit of hair cutting paraphernalia, she grabbed the clippers and popped on the number four guard.
Rex hovered, watching as she oiled the blade and tested it.
“Well sit down you big lug, I can’t reach your head!” she said laughing. Rex plunked himself down on a dainty stool with tufted pink trimmings. It creaked ominously. His refresher was complete with a vanity area, obviously meant for makeup application and fussing with hair. The huge mirror was surrounded by bright lights.
“I’ll be glad to be rid of this hair,” Rex said, “thanks for doing this,”
“Of course, besides it’s not like there are better things to do today with the rain,” she clicked on the clippers, the buzzing noise loud in the spacious room. Slowly she ran them through his thick hair, shearing the dark roots and blond ends. Rex closed his eyes as she continued to shear off the rest of his hair, clumps of it falling on his shoulders and into his lap.
Ahsoka liked cutting hair, she’d cut many of the men’s hair on long campaigns. It was so satisfying shearing it, blending the sides, the snipping of the shears for the guys that wore it longer on top. She recalled chasing Anakin around with the buzzing clippers as he shrieked. But of course she never would have cut his hair, he loved it long and the curls were beautiful when looked after of course.
After he was sufficiently sheared, she mixed up the bleaching powder and liquid developer. The smell was strong and made her eyes burn.
“Maybe I should convince Cody to let me bleach his hair too,” Ahsoka said as she painted the bleach on his short hair with the applicator brush.
“No way, I like being the only blonde,” Rex protested, scratching at a stray dollop of bleach on his ear.
While they waited for the bleach to develop, Ahsoka turned on the vacuum droid and watched as it sucked up all the clumps of hair on the tile floor. That would have been handy as a learner in the Temple, she remembered all the times she had to sweep the stone floors.
Once the bleach had processed and his hair was bright blonde, Rex leaned over the tub and rinsed his head with the handheld shower wand. He inspected his hair in the mirror after toweling off the water.
“It looks great thank you,” he smirked, “remember that time you left a patch of dark right on top of my head?”
“We were in a war zone, you were lucky I was able to do it at all!”
They exited Rex’s bedroom, in the main hall they nearly ran into Obi-Wan and Anakin.
Anakin’s hair was wet, a towel slung over his shoulders and he was limping.
“You're hurt,” she blurted out, “what happened?”
Her sympathy instantly turned into irritation, now he’d weasel out of going to the fair and probably stay in bed with Obi-Wan for days.
“I’m fine Snips,” Anakin laughed, “I just hit the gym too hard, we’re going to the hottub,”
She noticed that they were both dressed in swim shorts with towels.
“You guys should come too,” Obi-Wan said, “the twins are napping and Padme is coming too,”
“Sure, I'll see if I can get Cody out of bed first,” Rex said as he wandered off.
Anakin smiled, “Please come, I haven't seen you much lately. I know it’s rainy and gross but we’ll make the best of it,”
“Well alright, I gotta put on my swimsuit,” she said, feeling bad that she’d been annoyed with him. Of course he and Obi-Wan needed some time together but she was the one that had stomped off to bed early last night and other times had retreated to the library.
She made her way up to her room and put on a swimsuit, taking a quick sexy photo to send to Trace. Grabbing her towel she ran down the stairs into the kitchen where everyone was milling around.
The twins had woken up, Anakin was holding Luke and Padme was holding Leia and trying to direct Quinlan through the open patio door.
“What’s going on?” she asked Obi-Wan, he was the only one standing calmly as chaos erupted all around.
“It seems the roll out canopy is stuck,” Obi-Wan said.
Suddenly the rain stopped, the lush green plants in the garden almost glowing in the bright afternoon sun.
“That was me,” Quinlan yelled jumping down from the roof, “I just demanded the karking rain stop, and it did,” he smiled a huge goofy smile at Padme.
Ahsoka rolled her eyes. It took awhile for them to make their way out to the hottub, Padme was trying to get some snacks and drinks together and the twins were fussy.
Eventually they all were relaxing in the hot tub, a huge double rainbow above them. There was some chitchat going on, but overall it was pretty dull.
“Anyone wanna go to the pool?” she asked hopefully.
Padme was laying back eyes closed, it had taken awhile for her to calm the twins and get them napping again. Quinlan was sitting next to her, he did not look like he wanted to move. Obi-Wan and Cody were conversing together.
Rex and Anakin were sitting side by side.
“Guys?” she pleaded, making a pouty face at them.
“Oh alright,” Anakin said, “I’m getting too hot,”
Rex and Ahsoka jumped out of the hottub. Anakin stood up and winced, he took a couple unsteady steps and braced himself against the patio table cursing.
“Dearest?” Obi-Wan inquired, “are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” he ground out, “just a leg cramp,”
Ahsoka’s heart sank, he’d messed himself up too bad in the gym and would probably just get back in the hot tub. Anakin straightened and tried to take a step, faltering.
“Just let me carry you,” Rex said, coming up behind him, winking at Ahsoka. He scooped Anakin up, who began to protest looking like a disgruntled bride.
Everyone laughed as Rex carted Anakin off towards the gardens. Ahsoka quickly followed after grabbing their towels.
In the pool area Ahsoka tossed some toys into the water, before jumping in herself. The cool water was a nice change from the boiling hot tub. Rex was still carrying Anakin who was clinging tightly, his arms looped around Rex’s shoulders.
“Don’t throw me in Rex,” Anakin said a bit nervously.
“I’m not Quinlan,” Rex said, "I've got you General,”
Ahsoka smiled at Rex’s slip up, this almost reminded her of one the times the three of them cooled off in a stream during a long supply run on one of the hot jungle planets.
Rex entered the pool, carefully stepping down the staircase into the shallow end. When he’d waded into waist high water, Anakin finally let go and stood beside him. Ahsoka pushed the board towards Anakin, who hopped on top. They all straddled boards, splashing each other a bit.
“At least the rain stopped,” Ahsoka said.
Time passed as they floated around, chatting and occasionally splashing each other. The air was heavy with the fresh fragrant smell of wet foliage and flowers.
Quinlan and Cody came in and began to be disruptive, well mainly Quinlan who kept thwacking Anakin and Rex with a pool noodle. Ahsoka was bracing for him to hit her, she’d jump onto his shoulders and throttle him, dunking his stupid ass underwater. But he ignored her in favor of grabbing Anakin off his board and throwing him into the deep water, before quickly rescuing him.
“Sorry buddy,” Quinlan said as Anakin coughed and spluttered, “forgot you don’t swim well,”
Padme and Obi-Wan came over and sat on the edge of the pool, drawing Quinlan away, he hovered around Padme trying to show off.
Cody and Rex began to toss a ball back and forth. Ahsoka lay on her belly on her board and drifted over to Anakin who sat straddling his board again, wringing his hair out. The long waterlogged tresses falling past his shoulders.
“Cut Rex’s hair eh,” he stated, “maybe you wanna cut mine too? It’s way too long,”
“Yeah sure,” she smiled.
“Not short tho,” Anakin said, “maybe to here?” he pulled the front of it down just past his chin.
“Yeah that’ll be nice, it’ll still be long but you won't have to tie it back all the time,”
That evening after supper and everyone had showered, Ahsoka combed and cut Anakin’s hair. Everyone congregated in the kitchen watching her. It turned out really nice, curling around his face but off of his shoulders now.
“Thanks snips!” he whipped his new hair around. Then Padme asked for a trim, Anakin held the twins while Ahsoka trimmed her long thick curls, just cutting the dead ends off.
“Can you shave mine off next?” Obi-Wan asked, he was drinking tea and watching.
“Nooooo!” Anakin shrieked, scaring the twins.
Ahsoka laughed and dismissed it as a joke. But when she had finished Padme’s hair, Obi-Wan sat down, “Shear it off, just like Rex’s,” he said smiling.
“No Obi-Wan I like it long,” Anakin whined, and Ahsoka stood there awkwardly as they argued.
Eventually Anakin relented after Obi-Wan convinced him short was good for the summer and he’d grow his hair and beard out again in the winter. Anakin nervously watched as she shaved Obi-Wan’s thick long hair.
After she was finished she packed up her tools. Anakin was rubbing Obi-Wan’s head feeling the short bristles.
“So if the weather is nice we’ll do the fair tomorrow?” she asked as she was about to leave the kitchen.
“Sounds good,” Obi-Wan said.
“Mmhm,” Anakin agreed, pulling Obi-Wan out of the chair and staring adoringly at him.
Ok… that was her que to leave, “Goodnight,” she said retreating as they started to kiss, yikes.
Up in her room, Ahsoka prepared for bed, all in all it hadn’t been a bad day after all.