Disclaimer: Still not mine.

A/N: ARGGGHHH, I'm so sorry for not updating sooner! I kept planning to, but then I'd get these evil little plot bunnies in my head, and I'd have to write those out, and then I'd realize I hadn't finished studying for a test, or done some homework, and I just never got around to updating. SORRY! Forgive me? Oh, and I also had a wedding of a really close friend happen this week…so yeah, life's been hectic.

I love you guys. Thank you all so much for reviewing and remaining faithful despite my err…slow updates. Please Read and Review!

P.S. I have this one shot James/Lily Harry Potter fanfiction up—it's called Royally Screwed, and I actually like it. This is shameless, but could you please read and review that one if you're into HP? Thanks! (I swear it's better than my last J/L one shot).

2nd A/N: FLUFF AHOY! YAY.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

PART ONE: BUDDING

Ali officially declared shopping the most boring thing in the world. She gave a small yawn, and looked around desperately for a place to sit. Sera had seriously dragged about fifty fancy dresses into the changing room with her, and was trying them on, one by one, coming out and twirling about in them, and staring in the mirror for about ten minutes per dress, contemplating how it looked on her. She'd been doing this for the past hour. The troupe of Padawans had awoken at unearthly hours of the morning to come and witness this.

"I'm so tired," She murmured to Anakin, who was standing next to her, yawning as well. For a brief moment she leaned her head of magnificent red hair onto his shoulder as if he were a pillow and Anakin had to fight the strong urge to encompass her slight frame in a hug. His nostrils filled with the pleasant scent of something flowery and nice. Then she lifted her head back up, and the moment passed.

"I'm not just tired, I'm bored," Anakin said back, and grinned when he saw a smile flit across his friend's pretty face. He loved making her smile.

"I like this one," Sera announced loudly, observing herself from all angles in the mirror. Ali looked up—the girl was wearing a very low cut, extremely skin tight, red, slinky, somewhat risqué dress. "It suits me."

"Do you want to get a larger size?" Padme asked doubtfully, eyeing the girl. Indeed, it seemed like Sera would pop out of her dress any second.

"No," Sera replied calmly, still primping in the looking glass. "It fits perfectly."

If 'fits perfectly' means 'cutting off all circulation', Anakin thought commented wryly. Seriously, that can't be healthy.

Ali suddenly burst into a loud fit of giggles, and shoved her fist into her mouth to try and muffle them. The attempt didn't work out too well—the entire little queue of Padawans plus Padme looked at her funny, and Sera shot death glares towards the redhead. Anakin looked like he might spontaneously combust from holding in his laughter.

They think you're insane, Anakin said in delight. After a moment's contemplation, he added: And they're not far off the mark, either.

She leaned over in mock anger and shoved him lightly, watching with amusement as he staggered exaggeratedly about and knocked into a rack of clothes. He rubbed his arm where she had hit in mock pain. Stop faking, you sissy.

"Okay," Padme said, blowing out a breath in frustration. "Since the girls are obviously going to take a while picking their dresses, why don't you boys go and find something suitable for tonight yourself? That way we don't waste any more time than necessary. The men's section is towards your right."

Anakin shrugged in agreement, stopping his mock stumbling.

"Let's go, Ryan. We'll see you later, girls." Bye Ali.

She couldn't stop the small smile from creeping over her lips as she watched his tall frame make its way across the store. And then a disapproving image of Master Lyra came to her mind, and she quickly dismissed all hormone induced thoughts of her best friend. And yet—somewhere, deep inside her heart—she felt a small pang of some unidentified emotion that wouldn't go away.

"Kyla, Alianne, why don't you both go and find some dresses?" Padme said tiredly. "Sera wants the err…red one."

Ali frowned unhappily as she browsed the racks of clothing. That was the thing about red hair. Everything—and she meant EVERYTHING—clashed with it. Having never worn anything but Jedi robes for as long as she remembered, this wasn't normally a problem. She half heartedly picked out a few gowns, mostly ones with soft fabric, or colors that caught her eye.

Yes, Ali thought grimly as, thirty minutes later, she tried on yet another dress and walked out for Padme to judge. Shopping was definitely horrible. She hated it. Passionately.

"That one makes you look really pale," The Senator said in contemplation. Ali stifled an annoyed comment and, with a sigh, walked back into the little changing room, shutting the door behind her. She was really pale, Ali thought fiercely. No dress was needed to tell Ali that fact. It came with the hair, after all. Ali stripped out of the offending black garb and flung it into a corner violently.

The pile of plausible gowns was growing scarce. Only three left.

The next one was way too low cut ("I like that one," Sera had said critically. It was evident that she wanted to say "But it'd look better on me."), despite the cream color complimenting Ali's skin. The second one was a nice shade of pink—that looked abysmal with Ali's red waves. Ali was ready to strangle something, or someone. Preferably Sera.

The last dress…well, Ali actually rather liked the tone. She thought it matched her eyes quite nicely. It was muted hue of green, silky with a frothy layer of pale emerald lace or something of the sort draped over the entire convection, softening the fabric. Simple, and yet elegant, the dress was slightly off the shoulders and yet not too exposing. The gown flowed down from a fitted bodice into a beautiful, slim bell skirt that flared out at the ends. Once she slipped into it, she observed herself in the mirror. It made her look slender and graceful and pretty, setting off her pure shade of skin and deep ruddy waves.

Then she walked out. There was a silence that followed, in which all three girls stared at Ali so hard that she began to feel extraordinarily uncomfortable and self conscious. At long last, Padme nodded her approval, in a very shocked sort of manner.

Ten minutes later, all purchases made, the little group of teenagers plus Padme finally left what Ali deemed fervently as "hell." She made this comment to Anakin as they were leaving the little shop, and he chuckled lightly in response.

About six hours later, Ali decided that she had discovered a new form of torture. Makeup and hair styles. Sera dashed about feverishly, stopping at every mirror in the Senator's dressing room to twist and turn and reapply her eye gunk (there was enough on her face, Ali thought, to serve an entire country). Meanwhile, Kyla kept cursing loudly as the people who were helping to fix the girl's long brown hair into a fancy updo poked her scalp with a pin. Repeatedly.

It was very hard to sit still without fidgeting. Ali learned (the hard way) that fidgeting would indeed cause the hairstylist people to stab you violently with what they claimed were pins but were in truth shrunken, mini daggers. Or so they felt. She would've shared this with Kyla, who hadn't seemed to learn not to fidget, but the diction she was learning from the other Jedi Padawan was valuable.

And even when she and Kyla were done, they had to wait for Sera, who had howled that there was an emergency she had to solve. According to the blonde, something dreadfully wrong had happened. Thirty minutes later, Sera reappeared from the hairstylists, looking exactly like she had when she'd left. This meant that absolutely nothing had been accomplished, other than the fact that the Padawans were now thirty minutes late to the ball.

Anakin sighed impatiently as he pulled at the stiff collar of his fancy shirt. He felt pressed and uncomfortable. Anakin was no great fan of balls and senatorial parties, and he felt dreadfully out of place with his conspicuous Padawan hanging just above his shoulder.

Where was Ali? He thought irritably, tugging yet again at his neck. This room was so stuffy and dull and boring without her dazzling smile and bright eyes to light it up. Almost immediately afterwards, he gave a small groan and buried his face into his hand. This was crazy. There were two options for one very confused Anakin Skywalker—he could either go insane quietly and in acquiescence, or he could do something very, very stupid that would probably get them thrown out of the Jedi Order.

He yawned and stretched, glancing over quickly to double check that all was well on Ryan's side of the ballroom. Upon receiving the thumbs up, Anakin returned to his bored lounging. No attacks had been made, Padme was fine, everything was going well—and the girls were coming down the stairs.

Sera looked stunning in her revealing red dress. A good deal of appreciative murmuring from the men around the ballroom started, and the blonde smiled smugly. Anakin shrugged to himself—if you got it, flaunt it was obviously this girl's motto. Kyla was sultry and seductive in a deep brown gown which brought out her tan skin and dark eye makeup that intensified those chocolate orbs. She had quite a few admirers as well.

But Ali! Anakin inhaled sharply as she glided down the steps, a bit behind the others. She shone so brilliantly that Sera and Kyla seemed to dull and fade, blurring into the background, outshined by this walking apparition. A small, aching pang echoed within his heart at the sight of her.

Never before had Anakin truly appreciated how absolutely gorgeous his best friend was. Now he was painfully aware of the fact, and also bitterly conscious of how forbidden this emotion was. She was looking about nervously, chewing a bit on her lower lip in a horribly endearing way, her pure skin glowing with an inner radiance and her cheeks flushed and tinged with pink.

Her dress was unadorned, and Anakin couldn't help but feel amazed at how easily she achieved such beauty. The soft green fabric suited her slim frame, and she cut a graceful and girlish figure against the dark background. Her eyes caught his, and a gentle smile flitted across her face.

Oh, those eyes! They reminded him passionately of the fresh spring grass that she so loved. Dark and sparkling and captivating, the emerald orbs mesmerized him, and refused to let him go. Her glorious hair, normally pulled back in a careless ponytail, was piled atop her head into coils and coils of ruddy curls that complimented the dress and shone in the lights above.

She was gliding toward him, smooth and elegant, her luscious pink lips curved into a sweet smile. The dress flowed, streamlike, behind her. Whispers arose from the surrounding nobility, clearly intrigued as to where this exquisite being was headed.

"Hey," She whispered, nervously flattening her skirt with her hands.

"Hi," He said back, just as quietly. "You look nice." The words were out before he could stop them, and he inwardly cursed his eloquence. He could've said anything—pretty, beautiful, unbelievable, gorgeous…anything but nice. It was such a generic word, so undescriptive…

"Thanks, you do too. I feel overdressed, though." She commented wryly, motioning at the hair. "Do you have any idea how much this weighs?" She rubbed at her neck for emphasis.

He laughed aloud, and she grinned at him, her face lighting up.

They stood together, in an awkward silence, trying their best to ignore the very conspicuous whispers and glances sent their way.

"Do you want to dance?" She asked, turning to look at him after a few minutes of awkward silence.

"Whatzat?" Anakin sputtered incoherently, choking and coughing on the drink he had in his hand. Damn her and her articulacy. How could he be expected to speak normally when Ali was next to him, dressed and made up so? He cursed to himself—why hadn't he had such problems for the past decade?

"Do you want to dance, Ani," she repeated slowly, a flicker of a grin passing.

"Oh. Sure." He put his cup to the side, and they slowly made their way out to the dance floor, the whispering gossip increasing in volume. He felt himself flush as she put her small hands daintily on his shoulders. The room grew very very hot as he cautiously placed his hands on her waist, marveling at how slender she was. She stepped a bit closer, and Anakin had to resist the urge to tug at his collar again.

She looked so very lovely close up, her eyes sparkling and surrounded by long, dark lashes. A dash of freckles were sprinkled across her nose and cheeks, and when she smiled he felt his heart lift and his breath catch in his throat.

"You're staring at me," She murmured in amusement.

"Yeah, well you are only a foot away, and you are looking very nice today," He replied. There was that word again! Why couldn't he just say 'beautiful' or something equally complimenting?

"Thanks," She said, smiling slightly with her eyes downcast. They rocked, back and forth, to the beat of the slow, sad song in silence for a while. During this comfortable pause in conversation, Anakin found his best friend had gently laid her cheek against his chest. And in all honesty, he didn't mind it one bit. He pulled her closer and enveloped her in a hug of sorts, his chin resting upon her coils of hair, which smelt quite nice.

A thousand thoughts raced through his head all at one time, and Anakin tried to find inside himself the words to tell her how much she had come to mean to him, how absolutely heartbreaking she looked tonight, and how much he…felt strongly for her.

"Ali?"

"Mmm?"

"Oh, never mind." He'd just enjoy himself tonight. Let himself savor the feel of her in his arms, the scent of her hair, the look of her in that gorgeous green dress, and the veryaura, the amazingpassionate sensation that the air around her was filled with,that she carried about with her. Never mind the whispers, the gossip, the strange looks the other Padawans were doubtlessly shooting at them. Tonight—just for tonight—he would close his eyes and breathe in Ali, no matter how forbidden this was.

A/N: Ahahahahaha I LOVED writing this chapter…I LOVED writing it. Fluff! YAY! AHAHAHAHAHA…do you all think it might've been TOO fluffy? OOC? Give me input here, please! I hope you liked it, I apologize again for the long delay. LOVE YOU ALL! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!

P.S. Next chapter is (a bit more fluff—after all, the party isn't over yet!) action. So stay tuned, please.