Cejanr (A Rexsoka SWTCW Fanfic)

22

They found a sort of a pattern over the next few days. Rex was sometimes there with Fives, bringing him fresh clothes and news about the barracks. Ahsoka was home as often as her schedule allowed, but she always made time to talk to him as she had dinner. Fives was getting antsy not moving more than a few feet a day. 

He sat up whenever he could, the blaster shot mostly healed thanks to the bacta and Ahsoka's care, but there was still the damage to his abdominal muscles to deal with. When he was alone in the house he practiced getting up and standing, taking a few shuffling steps at a time. Balance was hard as he tried to work what was left of the muscular tissues to not fall over. 

At least the harpy wasn't there to drive him into a murderous fury. 

He thought Ahsoka had guessed about his attempts at walking, but she said nothing about his flushed and slightly sweaty face. The bandages came off, but she warned him that the skin was still delicate. Didn't stop him in the slightest. 

His happiest day came when he managed to take the fourteen half-shuffles to the refresher. You never know how much you appreciate using a toilet until you are peeing in a bucket. That was also the first day Ahsoka let him start eating small pieces of solid food. 

The next morning, he was napping early in the morning when the door slid open, waking him. He opened his eyes, expecting Rex again. Instead, Ventress leaned against the back of the door. 

"Oh. You're back." He grunted, sitting up. He remembered his promise to Ahsoka to play nice, so he attempted to make some small talk. "Everything go ok?" Ventress panted a little. There was a sheen of sweat across her shaved head. 

"Got the first two targets easily enough." She grunted back, sliding down the door. Dark liquid was streaked across the space she had slid. "Had a bit of trouble with the third." Her voice was strained. Fives's brow furrowed. 

"Is that blood? What happened to you?" He forced his tone to sound concerned, but it came out still sounding slightly sarcastic. She grunted a little, sinking lower. Blood trailed down after her. 

"One of my bounties was hiding among primitive natives who thought she was a goddess. Lightsabers don't mix too well with spears. I was too slow, caught one in my shoulder. The tip was barbed, broke off in there. Might be slightly poisoned too." She grunted. Fives raised himself to a standing position as fast as he could. He overcompensated a little and almost fell, but he caught his balance. He used the counter and wall to help him walk unsteadily to where she was slumped. He half crouched, half fell to his knees beside her. 

"Can I see?" He asked. She glared at him. 

"And if I say no? I'm wounded but I'm still stronger than you." She growled. Fives tilted his head.

"I promised Ahsoka I would be civil towards you. I don't think leaving a person who took care of you, even if it was purely out of obligation, to bleed out on the floor is good manners." He answered.

"I'll heal just fine on my own. Dathomirians heal fast, and most poisons don't work on us. I just need rest." She protested. Fives laughed.

"You barely made it back here. Besides, you said yourself the tip was still in. I can at least dig it out for you." He said smoothly. She glared at him for a second. 

"I'll do it myself. I owe you people enough." She growled, trying to shove to her feet. Fives stood as well, basically dragging himself up the wall to follow her as she staggered a few steps to the kitchen, pulling out the medkit. 

"Well that's a sorry way to live." Fives commented, leaning on the counter. "Always trying to pay off debts for one person after a next." She glared at him as she yanked her tunic up over her head, leaving her in just her chest wraps. The purple tattoos from her face continued down her stomach and ribs. She was softer than Fives would have thought, the hard edges of muscle blurred by a healthy amount of fat, unlike his too-skinny commander. "And, if you think about it, I owe you too. For the morning you left." 

She turned away from him slightly and craned her neck to look over her shoulder at the wound. She grimaced as she touched it with a pair of tweezers, pulling the edges of the wound aside to dig around in the bloody mess. Her hands were trembling slightly. "I promised Ahsoka-"

"Waking me up from a nightmare has nothing to do with my physical well being. Nor does the attempt to comfort me afterwards you made, sad as it was." He interrupted dryly. She gave an animalistic snaral and threw the blood covered implements down.

"Fine. You want to taif'sat help? Go right ahead." She spat acidly. Fives walked over a few paces and picked up the tweezers. He gently pulled back the ragged edges of torn flesh and wiped the blood away to get a glimpse of some kind of barbed stone. She twitched under him, hissing a little. He gripped the edges of the spear head and pushed it a little farther in to make sure the barbs weren't caught before carefully guiding the piece of stone out and dropping it on the counter. 

"There." He said quietly, leaning on the counter. His stomach ached and his legs trembled from standing so long. He grabbed the high end military grade bacta that was left over from his injury and carefully swabbed the area around it with the greenish gel. He wrapped the wound clumsily before stumbling back to the couch, sitting down with a grunt. Ventress adjusted the bandages and gave him a sidelong look.

"I... suppose I should thank you." She said begrudgingly. Fives shook his head. 

"Nope. I repaid my debt, I didn't give you another to repay. No thanks needed." He replied. "Will you be ok? Do you think it was poisoned?" He asked.

"Dathormirians don't really get poisoned. Either I'd've been dead ten minutes ago or I'll be dead in a week, if this thing kills me." She picked up the piece of black stone that was embedded in her shoulder and flicked it aside, into the trash bin. 

"Ouch. Rough planet then?" He asked. Ventress laughed bitterly. 

"It rains acid, the plants want you dead, the lakes and rivers have to be distilled before you can drink it. The only animals to eat also want to eat you too." She tossed her bloodstained shirt into the wash. "I'm going to rest. Will Tano or the Captain be back anytime soon?" She glanced at the chrono. 

"Not that I know of. Rex might swing by later." He supplied, leaning down to get back to his own nap from before she had woken him. 

"Fine." She said snappishly. "Tell him to stay out." She hissed, staggering over to the bedroom door and slamming it behind her. 

Fives made a face at the ceiling. "Will do, harpy." He muttered to himself with a snear. 

A/N - Whelp, another chapter. Slight note, when I use other languages in this I will not always use the same one. Anakin will speak in huttese, the clones in mando'a. I chose not to use togruti because I wanted it to be more of a trilling/chirping sound than actual sounds humans could make. Ventress uses zabraki, because there is no official dathomirian language and even though the Zabraks and Dathomirians have evolved into similar but different species over time, I'm still going to use zabraki for both.