Hello there!

This fanfic is a LOT like JimmyPenguin421's, 'Peace', but there was a HUGE lightning storm where I live a few nights ago and I got inspired. (Also please go read that fanfiction, it's very good.)

(Sidenote this is taking place in the first few months where Ahsoka was Anakin's padawan, so when she was fourteen.)

I hope you all enjoy, and are healthy, safe and okay, and as always have a great day!

Anakin's POV:

It was a dark and stormy night in Coruscant City.

A bad thunderstorm that would've had nine year old Anakin Skywalker running into Obi-Wan Kenobi's quarters for comfort, with lighting that lit up the whole room and thunder that seemed to shake the ground. He didn't mind it too much anymore, being a General in war made him realize there's a lot scarier things in the galaxy besides the weather. He still sat up in bed though, unable to sleep from all the noise.

He watched the lightning with interest. It was much easier to enjoy now that he was used to it, instead of hearing it for the first time after living his entire life in a desert. He counted the seconds in between the lighting and thunder, remembering what Obi-Wan had told him when he was a kid.

"Every five seconds you count is a mile that the storm is away from you." The older man explained, looking outside his window.

Anakin tilted his head to stare out the window with him. "Really?" He asked with awe.

Obi-Wan stroked the young boy's hair. "Yes, my young padawan." As if on cue lightning struck.
Anakin focused on counting...1...2...3...4...5…

10….11...12...13….14...15…

BOOM!
Anakin looked up at him, proud of himself. "That one's three miles away!"

He smiled at the memory, counting quietly to himself.

"5….6…..7…"

He jumped as he heard a timid knock at his door. Collecting himself, he started to get up to answer it, but she had already opened it. And she just...stood there. His new padawan Ahsoka Tano. Still wearing her Jedi garments unlike him, who was dressed in loose-fitting sweats.

"Ahsoka?" He asked with a mix of confusion and concern. Obviously he knew it was her, not too many of his friends were orange with montrals, but why was she there?
She slowly, nervously walked to the foot of his bed. "I-I can't sleep." Her voice was shaky, just like her.

What was going on?
BOOM!

Thunder crashed outside. The man turned to look out the window at the noise, feeling a sudden weight thrown against his side just as he did so. He spun back around, seeing Ahsoka pressed to his side with tears leaking out her eyes, squinted shut, and her heart pounding. Her little arms hugged his middle.

"Hey, hey, hey," His brows furrowed and without a second thought he had an arm around her. Her lekku darkened, but she couldn't bring herself to let him go. She tried to speak.

"The….th-the thunder….i-it's loud." She whimpered.

He frowned. Was it because of her lekku? He knew that because of them, Togruta had much better hearing than humans, but it never seemed to bother her before. He was confused, but that didn't matter. She came there for comfort.

He gently moved her by her waist onto his lap-she couldn't have weighed over one hundred pounds-feeling her nestle her face into the crook of his neck. She was breathing heavily, flinching at every single noise.

He laid his chin on her shoulder. "What's wrong?" He asked quietly.

The girl sniffed, on the verge of tears. "I-I thought it-it was an explosion."

His heart sank. Of course she did.

"It's just a storm, you're okay." He murmured, rubbing her back with one hand and holding her third lek with the other, cursing the whole universe for putting the burden of war on the girl's shoulders. She was only fourteen, she should've been admiring the storm instead of confusing it with the frontlines.

The room lit up as lightning struck down, followed seconds after with another crash of thunder. Her nails dug into his back and she whimpered.

"It's okay, Snips, you're okay." He started to rock her, slowly swaying as the rain pattered on the roof outside.

Ahsoka couldn't hold it back anymore, overwhelmed with fear, embarrassment and all the loud noises, and she felt tears falling down her face, a sob escaping her lips. Her master pushed gently on the back of her head, bringing her closer. He'd never seen her cry, she was usually so stubborn and snippy, especially to him, always trying to prove herself. The last thing he'd ever expect in a million years was to be holding her, crying, but there they were.

"I'm right here, I'm right here," He said, hoping that it was somehow comforting. He could feel her warm tears soaking his shirt, that and the muffled sounds of her crying were like a punch in the gut.
She cried. "I'm sorry,"
He scoffed at that. "Why would you be sorry?"
She let go of his shirt, pulling away as much as his grip on her would allow. "I-I don't want to bother you.." He probably just wanted to sleep...he didn't have time to look after a padawan.

But he shook his head, a little hard to do against her lekku. "I don't mind."

"B-but you're my m-master and I-"

"That doesn't matter." he interrupted. "I'm your friend."

Her eyes went round. She had friends, sure, but they'd never really been so straight forward. And Anakin? She always thought he'd hated her! He didn't want a padawan, and even after he'd accepted her as his apprentice he'd seemed to resent it.

On top of that, attachment was strictly forbidden. But after all, he was the one she'd run to without hesitation.

She started to say something just as thunder sounded and she found herself holding onto him again. Anakin didn't mind, of course. He always cut her slack everytime she slipped up, where other Jedi would've scolded her for her emotions, he welcomed them.

"Do you really mean that?" She asked.

"Of course I do."

She raised a brow marking. "You don't mind any of this?"
"Not at all." He had an idea, then.

"I used to be scared of lightning too, when I was a kid. About your age, actually."
Anakin had a reputation for being, 'The Hero With No Fear.' Of course he was a kid once, but she could never picture him being afraid of something. "Really?"
"Yeah. But you know what Obi-Wan would always tell me? He'd tell me that if you listened really carefully, you could count the seconds between lightning and thunder, and tell how far away it is." He spoke softly.

She knew he was only telling her the story to distract her from her fear about the storm, but she let him. "How?" She sniffed.

"Well," Anakin lowered his voice even more until they could hear his hand as it traveled up and down her back. "Every five seconds is a mile. You have to be real quiet to focus on it though."
"Okay." She whispered.

They waited for a few moments, the only sounds their breathing and the wind outside. A light flashed, and Ahsoka flinched.

"Okay, now count." Anakin said, bringing her back to the game and out of the imaginary battlefield.

She did so under her breath, until they could hear thunder.

"Thirteen. I got thirteen."
"Two miles or so, then. Good job!"

She smiled at the praise, already feeling herself forgetting about all of her stress.

"There you go, Snips. See? It's not so bad." He kept rubbing her back as he felt her wild heartbeat slow.

"I think it's kinda pretty." He said.

She peeked over his shoulder to the window, watching the bolts hit the ground in their own intricate webs. "I think you're right."

He fake gasped. "Did you, Ahsoka Tano, just say that I'M right?"

She giggled. "Don't let it get to your head."

…..

Her back fell and rose easier now, her grip on the man loosening. Anakin craned his neck to study her, her eyes were closed and her features peaceful.

He laughed. "Falling asleep, huh, Snips?"

Ahsoka shook her head the tiniest bit, all she could really manage to do. "...no…" She yawned, giving up on holding onto him and letting her arms dangle on his back.

"Sure, sure."

He picked her up with one arm underneath her thighs, her legs around his middle. He was careful when he walked out of his quarters and down the hall. Her room was down the hall from his, and he waved the door open with his hand.

Oh-so carefully he crouched on the ground and laid her down on the mat on the floor, pulling the thin covers up to her chin.

"Try to get some sleep, little one."

"Mmhm…" she opened her eyes to look up at him. "Thank you, Skyguy. For everything." Her face was filled with humble, genuine gratitude. And sleepiness.

He smiled at his nickname. "No problem." He sat cross-legged next to her, reaching forward and rubbing her arm. "Listen, Ahsoka, you can always talk to me. About anything. I'll help you, okay?"

She nodded. "Cause we're friends."
"Right."
They shared one more smile before she closed her eyes, curling into a ball but allowing him to continue rubbing her arm. It was relaxing. A reminder that she was safe, that he was there with her.

Slowly, the Togruta drifted off into sleep, snoring lightly. He pulled away.

"Sleep good, Ahsoka." He whispered, leaning down and kissing her forehead.
He didn't believe it when they first met, but he did then.

They were really gonna make a great team.

The best.