Anakin Skywalker AU Romance

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The two of them fell into step beside each other, with silence settling between them as they walked further and further away from the dining hall. Kyah kept her eyes trained on the hallway ahead, until she noticed how uneven Anakin's gate had become. The sound of his footsteps creased her brow with concern, as she looked down at his leg and could see the way he was tensely swinging it while his other stepped quickly to compensate.

"I thought you were feeling better." She said with worry.

Anakin looked down at her, a little confused, until he saw her eyes fixed on the burned rip in his robes, "I am." He assured her, but could tell she didn't believe him, "It still aches, but it's far better than it was." He insisted.

"I hope so." She mumbled, "That was a deep cut."

Anakin took a quick look behind them, then ahead, and smiled when he saw the hallway was empty. He reached down and took her hand in his robotic one, squeezing just a little.

Kyah turned to see him smiling down at her, and she let out a heavy breath, forcing herself to relax, "I'm sorry." She said quietly, "Guess I'm just feeling a little inadequate lately." She admitted, shaking her head at herself as Anakin made no effort to hide his confused expression.

"What could you possibly mean?" He asked, and Kyah seemed equally confused by the fact that he couldn't see it.

"I mean, I treated your injuries, but clearly not as well as a medic would have, otherwise you'd be doing better than this." She said sadly and Anakin scoffed.

"You're not a medic Kyah, so you shouldn't hold yourself to the standards of one." He shook his head at her, "Besides, you did a good job. When you found me I could hardly stand, now I'm walking with minimal discomfort." He gestured to his leg, "Kix would be proud." He assured her and saw a small smile ghost her lips, before disappearing as quickly as it had formed.

"What else?" He prompted her.

She looked up into his eyes, so full of concern and compassion, then started to wish she'd kept her thoughts to herself, "I shouldn't have said anything. I'm just being silly." She shook her head, but Anakin wouldn't let it go.

"No, please tell me. What could possibly be keeping you down after a victory like this?" He asked and saw the wheels in her head turning as her gaze remained fixed on the long hallway.

"I just..." She started but her words dropped off and she shook her head again.

"Tell me." Anakin pleaded.

She clenched her jaw and wrestled with the idea of sharing her feelings with him, eventually giving in, "I should have sensed the witches in the fortress on Mustafar. I was tapped in to so much power on that planet, but I wasted it by fixating on Dooku." She said, clearly upset with herself, "Spinner nearly paid the price for that mistake." her brows knitted together as she again heard the sound of his head hitting the stone floor of the fortress.

"But you saved him." Anakin reminded her, "You did the impossible by taking control of the witches mind. Talzin herself said so."

Kyah shrugged off his praise, "I was nearly too late, and even still, he was injured when I should have been protecting him." She shook her head at herself, "And back when we were here on Mandalore, I should have been more careful." She hardly took a second to breath as the words started to pour out of her. Her emotions had been bottled up for too long now, "I Should have tried harder to avoid conflict with Dooku entirely, then he never would have figured out who I was, and you never would have been..." She felt her arm yanked back as Anakin halted his steps completely, tightening his grip on her hand so she would face him.