Anakin Skywalker looked around him, a grimace lacing his delicately carved features. What business did he have doing in the back of a hovercraft, with two guards about triple his size on either side of him, when his hands and ankles were already chained together? As if he could, move, not that he wouldn't if he were able to. The city seemed so... ugly. Even he, whose whole world was made from everything ugly, evil and unfair, thought that the black smoke escaping from the top of buildings and the garbage that drifted with the wind was disgusting. The streets and sidewalks were caked with dirt and the people passing by didn't even cast a second glance at the ruins that decorated the area.

He felt so uncomfortable, being squeezed between two replicas of Shamu. They acted like he was an armrest for their convience, and that annoyed Anakin to no end. When one of them wiped his fat hands in Anakin's hair, he wanted to bite his fingers off.

Just suck it up, he thought to himself. Before long, in a more suburban, secluded area, with less trash and brighter skies, the hovercraft came to an abrupt halt. Thank God for Shamus because Anakin would have gone flying through the window.

The door zoomed upwards. Anakin gulped as the man on his right slid out with out a second glance. His side instantly drooped downwards, having the weight that had been pushing it upwards now gone. The man pulled down on his suit, and then Anakin was shoved out from behind, the man from his left roughly pushing his still stinging back out of the hovercraft. Anakin tried to balance himself as he fell off the edge of the leather, slippery seat, but with his ankles and hands tied linked together, there was only so much he could do.

At least it didn't hurt when he fell on his face. Seventeen years of having his head shoved into the floor permanently made that part of his head numb. But the fact that the two goons sent to make sure that he got to the house with out delay, damage or escape were laughing didn't help at all. Anakin managed to get up and didn't bother giving them the satisfaction of showing them how pissed he really was. Instead, he pretended to be captivated by the scenery all around, although it was nothing he hadn't seen.

By the scruff of his collar, a hand nearly dragged him to the door of one of the exquisite homes. Anakin's feet kept tripping over each other as he tried to keep up, but he succumbed at just let the burly man drag him across the gravel. It was easier than trying to walk.

When the reached the door, the same man who had been dragging him forced him on his knees. Think of... he racked his brain for something, anything, to defect the focus from the present. He knew that soon the door would open, and soon a new round of his personal hell would begin. And it wasn't only that, but what made it worse was that there was no possible way out. He couldn't kill himself- the collar that had been around his neck for as long as he could remember would electrify him until he passed out if it thought that he had begun to harm himself. He tried it twice, and twice it resulted in his blood catching on fire, and later when he was found sprawled out and charred against the floor, a shredded back that kept him lying down in the same spot for days.

The door opened.

Anakin didn't dare look up. He knew he would have to at some point, but firstly, he wanted to delay that, because he knew the face that he saw would haunt him at night and as far as nightmares were concerned, he was faring alright with dreams and he'd like to keep it that way for one last night, and secondly, he knew he wasn't supposed to look up with out being told to do so.

"Hello!" The voice sounded like bells and full of energy to Anakin, something had he hadn't heard since his sister had been taken from him. Instantly he was angry with himself that he dared compare an angel like Serenity to the potential monster that stood before him. Anakin stole a glance at the woman's feet, however, he saw nothing beside the tips of her shoes as the rest were covered with... were those pants? He felt like laughing.

"Senator, how are you?" Small talk.

"Great, great, great!" Her voice was practically bursting with life. "Just enjoying the weather today. Day off. And how are you two gentlemen?"

"Fine as well," the shorter man beside Anakin answered, engaged in the Small Talk. Anakin listened, wanting to know if he could possibly hear something of importance. "Just doing some business."

"Ahh. I see, well. Good for you to be feeling so up on a day so beautiful and you spend it working. What brings you to my doorstep?"

Had she not seen him kneeling before her? Anakin tried to figure out if she was oblivious, playing dumb, or truly stupid.

"Yes, well, today has been rather tedious. It's not like out jobs are pleasant. We're here to deliver this to you," the man behind Anakin said brusquely, his gruff voice smart and clipped. It was plain in his tone that he wanted to end the conversation. "Where would you like us to put it?"

Fire burned in Anakin's stomach as the guard addressed him. He could almost hear the smugness in the woman's jingling voice, Oh, put it in the living room. Anakin couldn't help himself. He spat at the woman's feet with his eyes closed. Instantly, he wished he could take back the action, although he didn't regret it. In fact, the blow on the back of his head, and the explosion of black pain for that split second before his eyes was worth it.

He heard the woman gasp.

"Don't you mean him?" The woman asked, her voice slicing through the air around them like venom. Before she had sounded like bells. Now she sounded like an angry, feral cat.

Anakin could feel his jaw drop. She didn't- she didn't hurt him or anything, like she was supposed to.

"No, I mean it." The way the man sounded so confused made the fire ignite.

"That was rhetorical! And the fact that you didn't realize that, but answered what you did just-"

"Senator Padme, with all due respect-"

So that's her name, Anakin thought. Padme.

"Mhmm," she drawled out, her voice venomous as she tapped her foot. The sharp click of her heel was heard echoing behind her voice. "Do elaborate on why you deem yourself so superior."

"I-I-I just felt that," the man stammered, "seeing as he is merely a slave, he needn't be referred to as an equal and I don't really understand why you care so much. As I said before, he is in fact a slave."

Anakin listened carefully to Padme's response. She had after all, made this giant man stutter without a shake herself, and, (and this was shocking), to Anakin's defense. He felt the wonder seep through him and worried that it might show on his face.

"Well then, King Shamu-" Anakin wanted to explode. This entire scenario was getting confusing and ridiculous. This woman, who can do whatever she pleases to Anakin, chooses to come to his defense and face two more than capable men with out backing down an inch as they fired at each other, simply because they refereed to him as an object, which was the way he had been refereed to his whole life. And not only does she mock one of them, but she mocks them with the same description as Anakin, and that was just... plain weird. - "in your height and honor, I humbly apologize to you, because you're the Senator, not me, and you question me, and I answer to you." Her voice was drenched in sarcasm.

"I'm sor-"

"Enough," she interrupted. "I get the picture. Thank you for managing to destroy my mood in the few minutes that you were here."

Anakin stole another glance. He hadn't felt this way in a while. He didn't know how. There was still the nervousness, the anxiety, the fear, the feeling that you were going to be hit... but then there was something else. Protection, maybe? He didn't know. But it felt good.

Padme's feet were bending down. Anakin lowered his eyes quickly, hoping she didn't see him look. But then her soft fingers curled under his chin and gently bought his head up, so that he had to look at her. The only person that ever touched him like that was his sister and his sister was gone. Still, he couldn't help but flinch.

She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life. She had big, bright beautiful blue eyes, framed by long, thick yet delicate eyebrows. Her lips were pink, pout and full and her face had that healthy flush of life lighting it up. The cheekbones that sculpted her face were set perfectly, angled just under eyes to make her face look like a heart.

Anakin found himself lost in her blue pools, and he didn't know how he could get out.

"Are you okay?" she whispered, a tender, caring note in her voice. Anakin missed hearing that.

"Yes," he managed to stutter out, bringing his eyes back to the floor.

Padme stood again. "That thing around his neck, what does it do?"

"It's a shock collar, ma'am. It electrifies him if he ever tries to run away, hurt you, or hurt himself." It was the shorter man who answered.

"Get it off."

It surprised Anakin at how disgusted she sounded, and at what she had just ordered. That damned thing had been around his neck for the past thirteen years, ever since he could understand how to take life. Did she understand what she had just ordered?

"With all do respect ma'am, it's suggested that we leave it on. He has a history of being violent-" That's not true, Anakin thought. He'd only been violent to himself. Once, when he stuck inside an underground cellar for a week without food or water. He'd wanted to go his own way, not the bastard who owned him's way. And the second, when Serenity was taken away from him. But even when they whipped, burned and beat him, Anakin never wanted to kill anyone.

"You say it electrifies him, correct?" Padme sounded annoyed.

"Yes ma'am."

"Well, when I was little, I stuck my finger into a light switch that had cut up wires. I remember the small voltage raising the hairs on my hand. And I can't imagine having that all over your body. So take it off." Padme's voice was stern and final.

"Fine," the man behind Anakin conceded. "Stand."

Anakin assumed he was being addressed, and he attempted to stand, but Padme's angry breath interrupted him. "Give me the key," she demanded, her voice exhausted.

"I thought you wanted me to-"

"I did, but you proved to be to lazy to bend over when you can clearly see that he can't get up, so I'll settle for taking the collar off inside. The key, if you will?

Anakin's eyes followed the guards hand as it shifted through his pocket, before pulling out a small silver key and handing it to Padme. "Thank you," she said briskly.

"Can you get those shackles off?"

The man didn't bother trying to reason with her. Anakin looked up at Padme quickly. Her face was contorted into this expression of deep thinking, her hand on her hip and her shoe tapping again. "Hurry up."

The man at once bent on his knees with a grunt. Anakin turned his attention to him. The man looked flustered and annoyed, his lips pursed.

Anakin smiled sweetly as he offered him his hands. But it wasn't any sweet smile. It was a smug sweet smile. The shackles fell off, and Anakin rubbed his stinging wrists, now raw and bleeding. The same with his ankles, only worse.

"Would you like to keep the shackles?" The man offered them to Padme. Anakin saw his blood dry on some parts of the cuffs- on others, it still dripped.

"Consider them your birthday gift from me," she said. Anakin's chest let out a bit of air in a small, quiet version of a chuckle.

The men cleared their throats. The short one said, "We also bought a variety of tools, in case you don't have any of your own."

"I don't think I'll be needing them," Padme said. Anakin looked up from his kneeling position. His knees began to sore. Padme had a hand over her stomach and a lump in her throat. "You can leave."

"Are you sure?" The feigned concern.

"No, really," Padme assured them lightly. Then her tone changed. "You can get off my property."

With out turning his head, Anakin saw them climb into the hovercraft, before looking back at the ground in time to hear the zoom as it left. His eyes wandered up to the beautiful woman that towered over him, daggers still shooting out of her eyes as they followed the craft up into the air.

Then, with out warning, her glare shot down to Anakin, and his heart began to vibrate. Mostly from fear. Anakin's eyes flew back to the ground, but he knew she caught him staring, and he knew that as all good things must come to an end, his little moment of being protected would be coming into an end as well.

"I'm such an idiot," Padme muttered to herself. Anakin's eyes widened. She hadn't shoved her heel in his stomach. She didn't smack him across the face. "Get up, get up," she ushered as her hands gripped his hand and pulled him to his feet.

Anakin's stance was wobbly, his head still swimming a bit from the blow. He didn't know what to do as Padme's eyes surveyed him from top to bottom. "Well!" She clapped her hands together. "Come on in."

Anakin took the few tentative steps through the door frame. The house was a palace.

"Can I know your name?" Was that red on her cheeks blush?

Anakin swallowed before answering. "Anakin, Mistress."

Padme held out her hand to him, dangerously close, nearly touching his stomach. "Padme, although you probably already knew that, I mean, from outside and all," her face reddened. "God, I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Anakin didn't know what to say, so he shrugged uncomfortably as he rubbed his throbbing wrists.

He had the urge to just yank his hand back as Padme held out her hand, but instead he lifted his hand and enclosed it around her own, much smaller. Anakin hadn't felt anything in his right had for five years, when it had been shattered. But he felt a tingle of heat when they met, and time slowed. Anakin couldn't help but chuckle at her embarrassed tone. She chuckled also. Anakin's hand shook at he bought it back to his side.

He looked at Padme, his mouth slightly open. She didn't know what she had just to him.

Padme smiled, before pulling her hand back and running it through her mahogany locks. "Can we go to the garden a bit?"

What was with all the questions? The only time anyone asked Anakin anything was when he was being interrogated, and here his new owner was, looking hopeful and sheepish as she asked for his consent. He managed to nod.

She beamed. "Follow me."

Padme led the way to the garden, which wasn't far at all, Anakin shaking his head at the way her steps bounced. He couldn't help but smile- a real smile. He didn't know when he'd last done that.

When they reached the garden, Anakin wondered if she would ask him to sit.

"Do you want to sit?" Padme pulled out two chairs from under the table, and sat in one of them. "I was hoping I could lay down some ground rules- but if you don't want to, that's fine, I guess." Towards the end of her sentence, Anakin noticed how she lowered her gaze and how her voice died a bit.

To placate her, Anakin sat. Ground rules. Joy. Of course, now he'd be reminded who he really was.

"I'm just going to start, and if there's a problem, stop me, okay?"

"Yes Mistress," Anakin said, leaning in slightly, shielding his back from the chair. It started stinging again.

Padme took a deep breath. "No Mistress. Just Padme."

Anakin didn't know how to respond. That's all he's ever addressed anyone who's owned him before. It's all he ever knew. Anakin fidgeted with the hem of his old shirt, avoiding her gaze, unsure of how to answer and what his answer would be. Could he?

"Can you? Just call me Padme?" she asked, her eyes big with hope.

"I'll try," Anakin promised, looking down. At least he didn't say Mistress. But isn't this what he's always wanted? To not have to call anyone Mas0ter?

Padme breathed out a huge sigh of relief. "And no more of that kneeling stuff. I hate seeing you like that. Or anyone for that matter."

Anakin nodded slowly. "Okay." This was all so shockingly new to him. Was Padme an angel?

"And say whatever you want to. Call me an ugly, fat, stupid, cow."

Anakin let out a laugh, only to cut it short when the reality that he wasn't allowed to crashed down on him, but then he remembered what Padme just said, and he laughed again.

He looked at Padme, who was smiling hugely, her smile radiant and warm. It looked as if the world revolved around her, not the sun.

"Do it."

Anakin's laughter subsided. He didn't think she was being serious.

Padme cocked a perfect eyebrow expectantly. "Well?"

Anakin muttered the words out under his breath in a stream of letters. They were so untrue.

"We'll work on it," Padme decided. Anakin smiled slightly, relieved that she let this one go, because if she forced him to yell it out, he didn't know how could have.

"Go wherever you want to, eat whatever you want to, do whatever you want to and don't ask me to do it."

Anakin looked deep into her orbs to see if she was telling the truth, and there wasn't a flicker of doubt. She wasn't going to take it back and say, "Just kidding," or she wasn't going to let him to just that and then have him punished. Anakin hoped he was right and this wasn't some cruel joke.

"Okay," he said, with a nod.

Padme smiled. "I thought you were going to be difficult and protest. This is great." Padme pursed her lips. Anakin leaned in, ready to hear what she had to say. "You don't want that thing around your neck, do you?"

Anakin was taken aback once again. Sure, she had demanded for the key, but he didn't actually think she was going to take it off. Maybe she would dangle it in his face and taunt him, but taking the collar off would essentially be freeing him.

Did he want it around his neck, though? "No."

"Okay, umm... do you want to take it off or would you like me to?" Padme asked, fishing through her pocket for the key. Anakin subconsciously bought his hand up to the collar, only to stop it midday, and bring it back down.

"I- I can't," he stammered. His hands were shaking.

"That's fine," Padme said, an understanding note in her voice. "Do you mind if I touch you?"

Did anyone ever ask him if they could touch him? No. And their touches weren't little pats on the back, either. Padme was gentle and kind, or at least, so she seemed, and Anakin didn't want to push his luck.

"No," he said as he looked down and closed his eyes. He heard Padme stand and walk behind him. How would his neck feel with out it on? He wondered if it would feel empty, like having a bracelet on for years and then having it taken off. But this was no bracelet- this was some evil creation that had been forced on him for being born in the wrong family.

He felt her feather light touches push his shoulder length hair out of the way from behind him, her small fingers fiddled with it to find the lock. Anakin remembered the men who had brought him here telling Padme of his "violent tendencies." And she was willing to believe that they were lying, all because of the way they treated Anakin, which was really the way slaves are treated. Even if the things they were aboutt o say were true, how could anyone possibly want to hurt Padme?

The force of the key entered the whole in his collar, and Anakin held his breath, squeezing his eyes and balling his hands into fists. This was it.

Then there was a sharp click and the collar unhatched and drop onto his lap. His neck felt strangely light with out it on. That was first thing he noticed. How he didn't have to put strength onto keeping it upright. His hand slowly went up to feel it- he didn't feel anything but soft skin. His skin. Free from that collar. He fingers traveled around his neck, looking for any semblance of the collar, Nothing hurt when he touched his neck, like how his fingertips were burned whenever they touched it. They just felt the soft warmth of his newly uncovered skin. Nothing word hurt him anymore, or at least, nothing on him. But he had a feeling that Padme wouldn't hurt a fly.

Anakin felt a stinging behind his eyes. You can't cry! Not in front of her. He blinked furiously a couple times, waiting for the years to dissolve. When he looked up for Padme, he realized she had gone back to her seat and was watching him intently, Her head resting on her hand against her knee. A small, sad smile graced her features.

"Feels good, doesn't it?"she asked, a slight tremor in her voice.

"Really good," Anakin said, looking at her. He blinked. He hadn't answered directly, with a yes, or no. This time, he actually voiced his thoughts aloud with out even thinking about it. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. That thing shouldn't have been on from the start."

Anakin looked down and took a big breath, unsure of how he should reply to that. But she started speaking before him. "I want you to know that I absolutely abhor slavery," she began, making panic swell in Anakin. Please don't let her sell me, he begged to anyone who might be listening.

"You're not my slave," she said, looking at him, shaking her head. "Did they tell you what else you were to do for me?"

Anakin nodded, looking up at her. "I um, I was supposed to be your bodyguard... I think," he added, unsure.

"Apparently, I'm a big target on the people that need to be assassinated list," Padme joked, making Anakin chuckle slightly. When was the last time anyone made him laugh? He didn't even remember. "That's all you'll be, my bodyguard. Not my slave, or my anything. Okay?"

Anakin prayed to God that she was being serious. For all he knew, this could all be some big joke. She could make him feel so good today, and tomorrow, demand that he crawl around like a dog.

But Padme wouldn't do that, would he?

When Anakin looked at her, tears had welled in her eyes. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"I'm sorry," Anakin said. "I just- it's hard." That's all he would give her, for now. When it all came crashing down on him later, the weight would be much less if she didn't know exactly how much this affected him.

"Tell me," she pleaded, scooting her chair closer to him. Anakin edged backwards, wishing he could blend with what he was sitting on. "What can I do?"

"Nothing," he said quickly, looking away.

Padme sighed. "Somehow I'll earn your trust."

Anakin looked at her with a cocked eyebrow. He couldn't believe she was actually being for real.

"Let's change the subject," Padme piped up, sitting up straighter in her chair and wiping her eyes. Anakin felt the corners of his lips tug and he knew he was smiling. Immediately, he stopped, and pulled his lips tight together. Where did all this suspicion come from? Two seconds ago he was fine.

"What else?" Padme looked like she was racking her brain as she had her eyes rolled back into her head and tapped her chin. "Right!"

"Come with me," Padme said excitedly, a giant, eager grin spread across her face as she got off her chair. Anakin had a feeling that even if he wasn't Padme's slave, he would have obeyed this one request anyway. He stood up and tried to keep up with her.

Padme sounded like a sugar-hyped little child as she showed him around the house, barely allowing him time to see anything as she whizzed by the rooms. Some doors she didn't even open. It looked as if she felt obligated to get through the grand tour.

Padme came to an abrupt halt at one door. "And this," she drawled out dramatically, her eyebrows wiggling, "is..."

Anakin looked at her, smiling. He felt his face scrunch up, but this didn't feel bad. In fact, it felt good to smile. He was amazed, sort of, as she put on hand on the doorknob and the other hand spread wide, as if she was showing something off.

"Dun, dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun!" Anakin laughed at her overacted musical presentation. "Your room!"

Anakin stopped laughing from the shock. He must have not heard her correctly- there was no way she said, "his room." On a good day, he slept on the floor inside instead of out in the cold or the rain. Padme had said a few things today that defied everything he'd learned during his whole life, and she did take his collar off, and that alone was enough to make Anakin rethink everything that ever happened to him. His room? Maybe she was serious about what she said when she told him he'd be nothing more than her bodyguard.

"Are you okay?" Padme asked cautiously, edging closer to him.

He shook his head, coming back from his reverie and down to reality. "Fine, fine."

"Well," Padme turned the handle and pushed the door open, "Check it out."

Anakin took a shaky step inside. The room was amazing. It was painted blue, with windows everywhere, and what caught his attention the most was the giant bed in the center. His eyes bulged. That was all for him. He pinched himself to make sure he wasn't asleep.

"Do you like it?" Padme asked hopefully as she came to his side.

"I've never had one before," he mumbled, looking around in awe. "This is all mine?"

"All of it," Padme smiled. "I didn't know what color you liked, but the room was white before, and that just seemed too bland, so I just picked blue, I guess. Oh, and there's a skylight on the room, and a bathroom over there- Is the rambling getting annoying?"

Anakin was puzzled at the red flush in her cheeks, as if she were embarrassed. A small, sheepish smile crept on her face. "It's fine," he laughed. He looked at the room again. "Wow," he breathed.

Padme looked extremely satisfied. "So, I'll leave you alone, I guess- I mean you wouldn't want me around to annoy you or anything. I've been doing enough of that- If you uh, if you need anything I'll be downstairs. Okay?"

"Okay."

The first place Anakin went to when he was all alone was the bed. He'd never felt one before. When he sat on it, it just slouched down and let him seep into it's softness. Anakin moaned softly from pleasure. Slowly, he lay down fully on it, placing his head on the fluffy, feathery pillows. It felt like he was on a cloud. Never had he ever experienced such softness all over his sore body. He closed his eyes, moaning again. It felt amazing.

His eyes didn't open for a while.