Note: Thanks for the reviews, everyone! I was surprised the first chapter was so well liked. I hope you all like this chapter too. I hope you all like this chapter too, and sorry in advance for any grammatical errors, missing words, etc.
Not Happy
Chapter 2
By: Amrita Glittersong
Everyone stared at each other for a long moment. Surprisingly enough, Obi-Wan was the one to break the silence.
"You're not serious." He said, prompting a double-take from Anakin. Had Obi-Wan, of all people, just said that?
"We are." Mace responded, frowning as he addressed the Knight.
Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes, and for a moment, Anakin thought perhaps he had been wrong earlier; maybe Obi-Wan was capable of stormy and dark. He looked about as happy as Anakin felt, and that was a dismal amount. "Master Windu, surely you would have bothered to speak to me about this before making such a radical decision."
Anakin raised his eyebrows and looked at his master in surprise. Was Obi-Wan actually arguing with the council? Anakin felt an odd sense of pride; maybe there was still a chance he could corrupt Obi-Wan yet.
"Obi-Wan, I know you're not pleased, but this was what was decided. It is only temporary." Mace responded, his tone surprisingly gentle, as he was obviously trying to placate the Knight before he got really angry. Anakin had heard that his master had a rather terrible temper as an initiate, but Anakin himself had never seen it before, and suddenly wasn't sure he wanted to.
Obi-Wan fixed Mace with a dark look for a few moments, before Yoda spoke up for the first time since the meeting began. He gave Obi-Wan a serious look. "A slight against you, this is not, Obi-Wan, despite Master Windu's words. See this as a vacation, you should."
Obi-Wan frowned slightly at Yoda, before seemingly regaining his composure and turning to regard Mace again with an odd expression that looked to Anakin like a cross between confusion, hurt, and... Amusement? "Master Windu, I must ask you if you have thought this through."
"Oh?" Mace asked, raising his eyebrows.
Obi-Wan's expression had changed to incredulous. "Have you really thought about what you are getting yourself into?"
Anakin sighed and looked over at Obi-Wan. /Thanks, master. I feel so loved./
/It's worth asking./
"Yes, I have." Mace replied. Anakin scoffed, prompting a stern look.
Obi-Wan and Anakin exchanged glances again before this Knight returned his attention to Yoda. "Are you sure this is wise?" Obi-Wan sounded rather dismayed by the entire situation, and yet, Anakin was now sure he could sense at least a small degree of amusement.
It didn't take much work to figure out why, and Anakin almost smirked. He wasn't pleased about the entire thing, but at least it was temporary, and he was beginning to see an upside. Mace was going to regret ever thinking this was a good idea.
"My idea, it was not." Yoda said, not really answering the question. "Master Windu's suggestion, it was. Agreed with him, the council did. True, it is, that be done, something must. Young Skywalker's disobedience, an epidemic it is. Spread it to the other padawans, he should not."
Obi-Wan and Anakin, yet again, exchanged glances.
"Begun to catch it already, the others have." Yoda elaborated. "Yesterday, told us all we were going senile, Padawan Barriss did."
Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow and Anakin had to try hard not to laugh. He and Barriss didn't always get along, but she'd just gained a great deal of respect for that comment towards the Council. Anakin had thought it numerous occasions, and he had the feeling Obi-Wan had as well. Not that his master would ever say anything like that, of course.
Mace decided to speak up again and finish the meeting before Yoda could continue with other instances of padawan disrespect. "Anakin, gather your things and meet me at my quarters in half a standard hour. You are both dismissed."
"I thought you were going to go darkside on them for a minute there, master." Anakin commented as he and Obi-Wan reached their room about ten minutes later. He was attempting to keep himself from getting angry all over again at Mace's decision by thinking out how much fun he would have tormenting him, but he couldn't help but get a few comments in at his master before they separated.
"I was tempted." Obi-Wan responded dryly as he keyed the code to open their door and they entered the living room. He frowned and crossed his arms, looking over at his padawan, seemingly thinking about what he was going to say next. Anakin stopped and regarded him, crossing his arms as well, waiting until Obi-Wan spoke again.
"Anakin, I am very displeased by the decision the Council has made." He said finally, sighing. "And officially, I'm going to ask you to behave yourself and get this... Internship with Master Windu over with as soon as possible."
Anakin nodded, eyeing Obi-Wan warily. "And unofficially?"
Obi-Wan gave him a look Anakin rarely saw from the Knight. It was a look almost as frightening as the thought of meditating, and Anakin had far less experience in dealing with it than with being ordered to meditate. Obi-Wan was smirking. "Unofficially, I would hope Master Windu gets an idea of just how difficult it is to have you as a padawan, Anakin."
Anakin mirrored his master's expression. "Unofficially, you don't have to hope. Master Windu will be begging you to take over my training again by the time I'm done."
Obi-Wan chuckled. "That would be a sight. Now go gather your things."
Anakin grinned in response and decided to do as he was told, going into his room and beginning to gather the few items he owned as a Jedi. Of course, that amount was considerably more than the average Jedi padawan if he took into account all the droid pieces scattered everywhere. For the first time, he really considered just how forgiving Obi-Wan had been about this particular rule. It almost made up for how stuffy he was about the others.
After a few minutes, he had gathered all of his things into a bag along with his spare robes, and had exited his room to find Obi-Wan pacing around. "I've got everything."
Obi-Wan stopped pacing and walked over to him. "You're certain you have everything?"
"Yes, master." Anakin responded, sighing.
"Including your lightsabre?"
Anakin paled and had to check, looking down at his belt. Indeed, there was the lightsabre. "Yes, master."
"And you have those datapads you need to return to the Archives?"
"Yes, master." Anakin responded, sighing again but with slight amusement. Obi-Wan could be as bad as any parent.
The Knight considered Anakin for a moment, frowning, before speaking again. "Promise that you will be careful if Master Windu takes you with him on any missions, Anakin."
"Of course, master."
"Promise that you will not do anything absolutely stupid while I'm not there to watch you."
"Yes, master." Anakin said, putting his hands on Obi-Wan's shoulders and managed a smile. "Stop fretting. It'll be fine. Master Windu will soon get sick of dealing with me, he'll send me back to you, and everything will be back to normal. As normal as it ever is, at least."
Obi-Wan sighed. "Alright. You'd better go, of you will be late to meet him."
"Yeah, wouldn't that be terrible?" Anakin said, the devious look on his face making the words seem even less sincere than his tone. Never the less, he took his hands off of Obi-Wan's shoulders and began towards the door. He stopped as he reached it, looking back at the Knight and feeling a sense of deja vu and a small pang of sadness. He shook himself out of it a moment later; after all, the separation was only temporary, there was no reason to feel sad, was there?
"I'll see you around the Temple, I'm sure." Obi-Wan finally said with a small smile, as Anakin hadn't moved. "Go on, Anakin. And may the Force be with you. You'll need it."
"Very funny, master." Anakin said, snapping out of his thoughts. "May the Force be with you, too." He said, before opening the door and disappearing into the hall.
Next chapter: Anakin moves in and Mace gets the first idea he may have made a bad decision, and Obi-Wan sulks around the Temple trying to adjust to being padawanless.