Hello hello hello fellow Star Wars: The Clone Wars fans! Thank you so much for checking in on my story! It is I, the amazing, (well, you'll be the judge of that,) KATIEROSEFUN! :) :) I am in love with Star Wars and...*sniff* It's like, my number once fave TV show. However, I'm pretty mad at Dave and George for making Ahsoka leave...WHY AHSOKA?! She was my favorite character! She was my role model! She was...everything I wanted to be! :( :( :( But...that's how this story begins. Now, I know that some Ahsoka fans don't want to move on from the fact that she's gone...'cause I don't want to, either. Am I being a drama queen about it? Maybe. But yes, I just love Ahsoka that much...T_T And now, a little note: I DO NOT OWN STAR WARS THE CLONE WARS OR ANAKIN OR REX OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS, EXCEPT CADENA, BUT...well, actually, you'll have to read to find out who she is. I'm guessing that most of you already figured out who she is, if you read the summary of the story. Now, without further ado, I give you the first chapter!

Chapter 1.

Anakin—

Two months.

It's been two months since Ahsoka Tano has left the Jedi Temple.

Two blasted months.

I felt the usual lump in my throat as I tried hard to not think about what had happened since then. No, I didn't want to accept that Ahsoka Tano, my friend and Padawan was truly gone.

I looked over to the nightstand that was placed next to my bed and wrapped my hands around the Padawan braid that Ahsoka had given me right before she left.

I held onto it, trying hard not to let the tears overflow.

"Stupid Council." I mumbled angrily and wiped at my eyes. Why couldn't Master Windu keep his mouth shut? Or why couldn't the Council have seen that Ahsoka was innocent? They could sense if she's innocent or not, right? Or what about Master Plo Koon? He should have stood up for Ahsoka during the hearing!

I made a small choking noise and put the braid down.

I buried my face in my hands and tried to keep myself together.

"Don't…think about it…" I forced out and closed my eyes. The second I looked back up, my eyes landed on Ahsoka's bed that was still across from mine.

It was supposed to be removed, but I kept it because…I thought that Ahsoka would come back. There wasn't any news from her yet, so…I don't really know what's going to happen.

I bit my lip and squeezed my eyes shut.

I had once told Ahsoka that this was her home. She had been telling me about her life on Shili, and how when Master Plo found her, he had told her that the Jedi Temple would be her real home…her real life. But now she left her home.

"Come home, Ahsoka."

Those words barely escaped my lips when I heard a knocking on my door. I jumped up, feeling my heart pound.

"Ahsoka?" I whispered and ran to the door, feeling excitement course through my veins.

Please let it be her, please, just this once…

"You must be Master Skywalker."

I felt my heart automatically drop when I looked down at the face that had spoken. A small, brown eyed girl was looking up at me with a raised eyebrow. She was a human, with dark, wavy hair that was pulled into a ponytail. A strand of hair was slipped over her ear and she had a faint smile on her face.

"Who are you?" I asked, trying to keep the pain away from my voice.

"My name is Cadena." The girl says cheerfully. "And I'm your new Padawan."

I felt my heart sinking and then managed to say, "That's a mistake, kid."

"It's Cadena!" The child said loudly and I narrowed my eyes at her. Cadena crossed her arms. "I don't want to be called as 'kid' or 'youngling.' I'm fourteen years old, not a little baby." She says, determined. I felt a strange sense of déjà vu and that was when I realized it.

Ahsoka used to hate it when I called her youngling.

"I'm a Padawan, not a youngling!" She used to say indignantly. I felt as though someone had just stabbed me in the chest and took in a sharp breath.

"Alright, Cadena, who assigned you to be my Padawan?" I asked slowly. Cadena flashed a smile, obviously grateful that I was addressing her by her name. "Master Yoda did." She says. I swallowed and said shakily, "You can't be my Padawan."

Cadena's face fell for a minute but just as quickly as it came, it went and she put her hands on her hips, smirking. "Who says that?" She asks smugly. I rolled my eyes and said, "Look, I don't like silly games. Go away, youngling, you're not my Padawan."

Cadena's eyes widened and she stomped up to my face until her brown eyes were just an inch away from mine.

"Listen, Skyguy, I don't care what you say, but if Master Yoda says that I'm your Padawan, then I'm your Padawan!" Cadena says. I bit back a gasp and stammered, "What did you just call me?"

Cadena smirked and stood back to her regular height. "Skyguy is a nice nickname, right?" She says happily. "It's catchy, too." I closed my eyes and then snapped them back open. "Don't call me that." I mumbled. Cadena frowned. "We'll see what I should call you when we talk to Master Yoda." She says and grabbed my hand.

"What the—Hey, Cadena, stop it!" I yelled, surprised. Cadena flashed me a smile and we began walking, well, she dragged me, to tell you the truth, to Master Yoda's quarters.

"Cadena, wait, stop! Cadena! Cade-Whoa!" I tripped and fell to the ground. The girl stopped and turned around to face me. "Whoops." She muttered and helped me up. "Sorry." She says sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "I get a little intense when I focus on something."

I brushed myself off. "You think?" I asked her and she smiled at me. I caught myself smiling back but stopped.

'Don't focus on that. Just do what you're here for.' I thought to myself and walked into Yoda's quarters. Cadena made a move to follow me but I raised a hand for her to wait outside.

Cadena raised an eyebrow and shrugged, stopping.

'Well, at least she listens to me…sort of.' I thought.

"Skywalker, a new Padawan, you have, hmm?" Yoda says cheerfully and I flinched. He was sitting on a cushioned seat, and I realized that he had been meditating before I had come in.

"My apologies, Master, for disturbing you." I said quietly. "But I came to see just about the new 'Padawan'." Yoda looked up at me expectantly and I sat down in front of him.
"Master, I can't take her." I started. "Not since Ahsoka Tano left…I can't take on a new apprentice." I gulped, trying hard not to remember Ahsoka's expression as she walked away from the Temple.

'Don't!' I thought angrily to myself but Yoda looked on, and I could see sympathy and sorrow gleaming in his eyes. "Have a new Padawan, you must, Skywalker." Yoda said slowly. "Find peace in her, you will." I shook my head. "No, Mater Yoda, you don't understand. She…she reminds me too much of—" Yoda shook his head.

"To not dwell on the past, she will teach you." Yoda continued. "Teach her all the same, you must." He said and stood up from his seat, dismissing me.

I opened my mouth to argue but I bowed and walked out.

"So, what did he say? Am I your new Padawan or what?" Cadena asked. I looked down at her, at her wide eyes.

I sighed. 'I'm gonna kill Yoda for this.' I thought and then said, "Come on, Cadena."

Cadena smiled and she ran after me. "So when will be our first mission?" She asks excitedly. I turned to face her. "I don't know." I mumbled. "I just came back from one a while ago."

Cadena shrugged. "Oh, well. Maybe it'll be soon." She says and darted off in front of me. I looked at her figure and swallowed. The next couple of hours were going to be painful.

•◊•

"So she is your new Padawan?" Obi-wan whispers in my ear. I nodded.

We were watching Cadena training in the gymnasium, tearing down fake droids down with a green light saber. "She definitely fights well." Obi-wan commented.

I nodded wordlessly.

Obi-wan turned to me and smiled sadly. "She still doesn't replace Ahsoka, right?" I nodded again. Cadena saw that we were watching her and gave me a cheerful wave. I raised a hand back in return. Obi-wan watched me carefully and asked, "Does she have a last name?"

I blinked. "What?" I asked. Obi-wan shrugged. "Every Jedi has a last name of a sort, or a surname by their original parents. You told me that she just introduced herself as Cadena. Why wouldn't she tell you her full name?" He asked.

I cocked my head, realizing that had just occurred to me as well and said, "Maybe she just forgot to say her last name." Obi-wan nodded agreeably. "That might also be a possibility." He says.

Cadena burst through the doors and she says, "You two have been watching me for about an hour now. Are you guys gonna join me?" I exchanged questioning looks with Obi-wan. He stood up and smiled at the both of us.

"I actually have some meetings to attend to. You two…have fun." He says and walked out. I narrowed my eyes at his back and Cadena grinned at me.

"Shall we start?" She asks.

•◊•

"You—need—to—be the weapon. Not—whoa, keep it steady!—have the weapon as—just a thing—I said keep it steady!—in your hands!" I panted as I dodged Cadena's blade.

Cadena smirked and she whirled around, giving me time to just barely manage to deflect her light saber. "Impressive, though." I admitted and threw her back. Cadena grinned. "I enjoy light saber sparring. I was the top in my class." She says. I nodded. "I can see that." I say.

Cadena deactivated her light saber and wipes the sweat off her brow. "What's next, Master?" She asks.

I let out a breath and says, "How about we get ourselves into the refresher first and then plan?" I ask. Cadena nodded, wrinkling her nose. "We stink, don't we?" She asks. I nodded. "You particularly." I said, surprised to find a teasing note in my voice.

Cadena punched me on the arm as we walked out of the gym. "That's not really nice, Skyguy." She said playfully. "You started it, Snips." I said, laughing and then stopped, catching myself. My smile melted off my face and I felt the familiar sense of tears threatening to come into my eyes.

'Stupid!' I thought angrily and blinked away the water that was stinging my eyes. "Master?" Cadena asks softly, placing a small hand on my arm. "Are you okay?" I blinked the last of the tears away and turned sharply to her.

"Don't call me 'Skyguy'." I muttered and walked off. I could feel Cadena's hurt eyes trained on my retreating back but shook my head.

She would just have to get used to it.

•◊•

I sat down on my bed, trying to get my hair dry.

Cadena was still in the refresher, and hadn't said a word to me since we walked into our quarters. I bit my lip.

I didn't blame her for being upset with me, but all the same, I didn't want to deal with having Cadena as my Padawan.

Not now.

"General?"

I stood up straight when I heard Rex's familiar voice outside of the door. "General, are you in there?"

I sighed and walked over to the door.

"Come on in, Rex." I say, opening it. Rex gave me an apologetic smile which I returned.

Rex had a pretty hard time trying to adjust with Ahsoka gone. He was one of her close friends and well…he was upset when she didn't even say good bye. Well, she couldn't. Not really.

Not to mention that Rex had been one of the clone troopers to hunt Ahsoka down when she was on the run. He had believed that she was innocent, but of course, it wasn't enough.

"So...I heard that you got a new apprentice." Rex says in a low voice, fingering his helmet. I nodded tightly. Rex gave me a tight smile. "Congratulations, sir." He said. I chuckled darkly. "I guess I should be glad about it Rex, but to tell you the truth, I'm not happy about it. At all."

Rex bit his lip, as though wondering what to say and then managed to mutter, "That is understandable." We both sat there, trying hard not to think about Ahsoka and then Rex says, "You and your Padawan are needed on Geonosis to complete a mission. Details will be given to you when you aboard the Resolute."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why exactly do we need to go to Geonosis again? The last couple times we've been there were never pretty." I say, grimacing. Rex nodded, understanding what I meant.

"I will see you soon, General." He says and was about to leave when Cadena walked out of the refresher. She stretched her arms and gave the captain a wide smile.

"Hi! I'm Cadena." She says cheerfully and extended a hand. Rex gave me a questioning look but smiled and shook her hand.

"Pleased to meet you, Commander." He says respectfully. Cadena laughed. "Don't call me that, not for now, anyway. The name is Cadena. What's yours?" She asks.

"Rex. Captain Rex." He replied. Cadena tilted her head to the left and stared at him with a playful smile on her face.

"Rex, huh? That's a cool name. See ya around, Rexter!" She said, waving.

And then it happened.

Rex's eyes widened and he turned his head slowly over to me. He gave Cadena small nod and hurried out of the room.

I felt a lump lodge my throat and tried to swallow it down. Cadena's smile faltered.
"Did I do something wrong?" She asked quietly.

A/N: So what did you guys think? Please please please review! I beg you! Or else I'll psych Cadena on you!

Cadena: Wait, what?! No one tells me what to do!

Me: Except Anakin, right?

Cadena: Except Anakin. But he's my master!

Me: Oh, Anakin!

Anakin: What?! Leave me alone!

Me: Please, can you tell Cadena to tell the readers to review? Please? *gives him Bambi eyes*

Anakin: *raising eyebrow* Um...Cadena, tell the readers to review...Katierosefun is kind of beginning to creep me out...

Me: Oh, thank YOU! *whacks Anakin with a book*

Cadena: *takes a deep, exaggerated breath* Please review for Katierosefun before she begins whacking Anakin senseless. THERE I DID IT! HAPPY?!

Me: *panting from chasing Anakin around my room* Yes. Very happy. THANK YOU GUYS!