(((hugs reviewers))) Thanks for reading, you guys! There are just a few more chapters left, and they may be posted a bit slower so I can get the next story finished by the time this one is all posted.

Estel Baggins: to answer your question, Obi-Wan is definitely not of Auren heritage in canon; remember that my story is an AU. ;) You can find out all about how that happened in my previous story, A Simple Change (also refer to the author's notes in Chapter 1 of this story).

Chapter 10

"In this, you ask too much of me," Obi-Wan said coolly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Being forced to have sex with Anakin was a degrading, unpleasant experience. But, at the very least, it was private. Unlike this.

"You will accompany me to the Imperial celebration on Dantooine," Anakin told him calmly, a razor edge to his voice. "Just as you have accompanied me to other such events. This is no different."

But it was. The other three events that he had been made to attend had been a station opening, a building dedication, and an inauguration ceremony; all fairly irrelevant events. The celebration on Dantooine was in honor of the Empire's success in driving the Rebellion out of that sector. "It is different, but you know that already," Obi-Wan said with a hint of sadness in his tone.

"It does not matter. Your face will be covered as it always is when I take you out; no one will ever know you," Anakin insisted. "And it is my will," he added imperiously. "You will accompany me, one way or the other," he threatened, gesturing towards the wardrobe.

Suppressing a grimace of distaste, Obi-Wan recalled the first time that Anakin had taken him to such an event. Obi-Wan had flat-out refused to cooperate and behave as a trained lap dog, so Anakin had physically forced him into an embarrassingly revealing outfit and taken him in chains, while trying to make him engage in small-talk with the visiting Imperial dignitaries. So the second time Anakin had tried to take him out, Obi-Wan had grudgingly cooperated, dressing as ordered. And Anakin, much to Obi-Wan's surprise and relief, hadn't tried to make Obi-Wan be sociable, instead accepting that he would be silent for the duration.

So of course Obi-Wan hadn't expected to win this 'argument', but he had had to at least try. "Very well," he said in reply, his tone dropping a few more degrees. Anakin eyed him suspiciously for a moment, but his expression soon tuned to one of satisfaction as he turned and left.

Obi-Wan reluctantly padded over to the wardrobe to get dressed. Fortunately, the pale green tunic set that had been laid out for him was actually rather tasteful, and far more modest than what he was given to wear at the Palace. He quickly pulled it on, annoyed by the impractical slipper-like shoes, and headed to the sitting room to wait. Momentarily, Anakin swept into the room from his adjoining study, now dressed in his formal military garb. Tall and regal, Anakin cut a dashing figure in the sleek black uniform. But Obi-Wan tried to ignore that, instead allowing himself to be amused by the fact that Anakin had dressed in his study while he had dressed in the bedroom.

Obi-Wan's amusement quickly evaporated, however, when Anakin picked up his hands and placed them in cuffs, which attached with a deceptively fine chain to the finely engraved collar that Anakin fastened around his neck. They were delicately crafted, beautiful, and, much to Obi-Wan's dismay, utterly inescapable.

"A gift," Anakin told him with a darkly charming smile. "I foresee difficulties, today."

"Difficulties?" Obi-Wan repeated incredulously. "I can't image."

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Vader was bored. He had hoped that his Consort's presence would provide him with some diversion, but Obi-Wan had been downright frigid since Vader had chained him. Not that Obi-Wan was ever any warmer than cool towards him anyway, he noted with an involuntary twinge of regret.

They had arrived at the lavish, open-air banquet not more than two hours ago, and the first course had only been served just now after several long-winded speeches. Looking at his disgruntled Consort beside him, Vader watched him pick at his food half-heartedly, rather than pay attention to the performing dance troupe. Obi-Wan, sensing his scrutiny, looked back at him with a look that only Vader would be able to recognize as a glare, and then turned away and to the side. Now both bored and irritated, Vader decided that some public humiliation was in order. Ravishing his Consort in public would certainly provide him as well as any interested spectators with entertainment, and it would also serve to remind Obi-Wan of his place.

Just as he began to move his arm towards Obi-Wan, the administrative building just to the side of the banquet area erupted in the rumbling, billowing flames of an explosion. Blaster fire pierced the air, and workers began to pour out of the crumbling structure in panic. Around him, his fellow banquet-goers radiated fear and uncertainty as they scattered in all directions. Instinctively on alert, Vader stood and reached out towards the building with the Force, sensing a small multitude of hostile presences. This, then, was surely the disturbance that he had foreseen. It seemed that the Rebels had not been as thoroughly ousted as they had thought.

He directed a quick, sharp glance at Obi-Wan, who was still seated and seemed entirely unbothered by the chaos surrounding him. "You!" he ordered the two nearby Imperial Guards that had not fled from their posts, "Escort my Consort safely to my shuttle and remain with him until I return." The last thing he wanted was Obi-Wan getting in the middle of this mess, unarmed and chained as he was.

With a last fleeting glance back at his Consort, Vader headed swiftly towards the devastated building with only one purpose in mind. Though dealing with Rebellion activity was certainly more interesting than a banquet, the damage that had been done to Imperial property and the danger that they posed to his Consort was unacceptable

He looked forward to killing them.

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Vader had only gotten to kill two of the Rebels, which was fewer than he'd have expected. The rest had escaped his wrath, apparently having planned for a quick getaway as soon as they caught sight of him. Cowardly as they were, Vader had to wonder why they had even bothered with the explosion and siege of the building in the first place; they certainly hadn't accomplished anything by it. But it was of no importance to him. It had provided him with a diversion from that dull banquet, and he hadn't even had to engage in any mass killings. Which was just as well, given Obi-Wan's touchiness about that sort of thing. Being relieved of daytime boredom was not worth another frustrating night with his Consort.

Having finished delegating and directing, Vader headed back towards his shuttle, and was struck with a sudden anxiousness to get home and away from here. He all but hurried aboard, expecting to be greeted by the welcome, but never welcoming, sight of his Consort. What he saw instead did not please him.

"Where is my Consort, Guard?" Vader said menacingly as he moved closer to the only other person in the small shuttle.

"I—I am sorry, my Lord," the guard said nervously, bowing his head. "He is gone."

"You let him escape?" Vader roared, enraged at the thought.

"No, my Lord!" the guard protested, taking a step back. "He was taken. By the Rebels. They killed Guard Trelen, and then they took him," he said fearfully.

Rage engulfed him. Too furious to care to hear any further explanations, Vader swiftly and efficiently snapped the guard's neck with his robotic arm. But the action helped quell his anger only slightly, and a dark sense of emptiness seemed to well up within him as he allowed what had happened to sink in. Obi-Wan was gone.

The explosion and everything else had just been a distraction, and an effective one at that. Vader cursed himself for misunderstanding his premonition—again, his inner voice whispered -- and for chaining Obi-Wan that day thus making him all the more easy to capture. As he glanced down at the guard's body, Vader wished, belatedly, that he had thought to ask where Obi-Wan had been taken from. Going back outside, he quickly spotted his answer in the form of a shoe. A green, silk slipper that was entirely lovely and completely impractical. The next time he took Obi-Wan out, Vader vowed that he would give him boots.

But would Obi-Wan have even tried to escape capture? He had been a member of the Rebellion himself, but it was unlikely that his fellow Rebels had come to rescue him. There was a reason that Vader kept Obi-Wan's face veiled when there was a chance of him being seen.

What, then, could the Rebels possibly want with Obi-Wan?

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