A/N- Please read an review. Please note Huttese phrases are used in this:
Chapter 11
Location: Naberrie Residence, Theed.
Month 7 Day 26 29 BBY
The bright sun shines high in the sky. Anakin grumbles as he continues to work on the broken shaft on his bike. He had stupidly taken her for a spin that morning and had heard the break of the shaft. He grunts out of frustration as the metal on the shaft frees itself from the body of the bike
"E chu ta! " The curse in huttese flies from his mouth as the shaft frees itself away from the bike. It slams into his foot on the ground. He stands up and throws the shaft angrily onto the rocky drive.
Katrina's eyes stare down the shaft that has missed her by a mere meter. She frowns and continues her mission to speak to the boy. She clears her throat to make her presence known and she hears the boy say to her, " Hi chuba du naga?" His tone is angry in Huttese which she cannot interpret.
She crosses her arms and replies, " I do not know Huttese as that is the tongue of smugglers."
"Cheeskar goo, " He murmurs to himself but an insult to her. He had called her scum which in any language is an insult.
He sighs and eyes his former guardian demanding, " What do you want milady?"
His tone of insult is clear and an annoyance of her presence. She narrows her gaze and demands, " I want you to end your relationship with Padme'."
Anakin stops picking at the shaft and his mouth forms a grimace of her demands. He states clearly, " My friendship with Padme' is none of your business and I have no intentions of doing such a thing."
With his statement, he turns on his heels and begins to pick up his tools as it is pointless to speak to her anymore and work on the blasted bike. He needs to acquire a new shaft and he'll have to do that after lunch. She clears her throat again and demands firmly, " I am not speaking of your friendship. I am speaking of your romantic involvement with her."
Anakin's hand freezes on his chores and his eyes meet her gaze with venom. He closes the gap between them. She is a bit taller than his best friend, but shows signs of her age. Her stony emerald eyes are flat and serious in her meaning. He whispers under his breath, demanding, " How do you know of our involvement?"
Her gaze does not falter watching the younger man use his height to make his demands. Her mouth curls in amusement. " I have my ways and you must end your romantic relationship with her."
His eyes are stormy and dangerous much like the storms on Kamino; dangerous and deadly. His voice is menacing, " And why would I do that?"
Her lips curl more into a leer. Her tone is one full of delight. " I will inform her father of your relationship. You have shamed her and her reputation. Ruwee' will not approve of your relationship with her. He is an honest man and wishes his daughters' virtue to be intact before marriage. If I happened to slip this piece of information, your luxurious life and career would be over and so would hers before it begins. Do you really wish to ruin her dreams before she can make them reality? It would be such a scandal upon our family."
So there it is. Blackmail. She has chosen to blackmail him into not ruining his career or hers. His eyes narrow with rage as he states, " And what if I revealed to Ruwee' of your threats against myself and his daughter? Do you think you'd stay in your luxurious marriage?"
She shrugs off his little pathetic threat. She has Ruwee' wrapped around her finger. She would tell her spin on the whole conversation if need be. She affirms, " I am an innocent witness to your scandal. Do you really think Ruwee' would believe a former slave over his own wife?"
His hands begin to clench into fists. He wants to hit her. It wouldn't take more than two punches to knock her out. Or choke the life out of her…. Now that was an idea.
No- Padme' would never forgive you. He has to live with this threat without physically hurting the woman in front of him. She says simply, " You have until the end of the week to end things with her."
"And what if I don't?" He questions the tone filled with his rage.
She cocks her head sideways with amusement written all over her face. It was fun toying with this boy. He gave into his anger easily and threats as well. " Then I will have a scandalous tale to tell my husband at the end of the week."
He tightens his fists and controls the rage within him. She can tell he wants to bash her brains in. He questions, " And what is in this for you?"
She eyes the boy and replies, " Everything. You have until the end of the week."
( Evening)
She has craved his touch all day long. It has been a long day of hours of work on her classwork. All she wants is to spend the night in his arms. They didn't need to sleep together, just to spend the night holding each other and speak of their dreams and ideals.
She stops in front her mirror and eyes her state of dress. She needs to get the smell of hard work off of her. A shower would be nice and refreshing. She begins humming and choosing an outfit for the evening that he would rather enjoy. Her hands fall on the skimpy pale blue nightgown. Now this would catch his attention.
She giggles with her ridiculous thoughts. She hears the door to her bedroom come open and her eyes brighten upon seeing her lover. She runs to him and pulls him in for a deep kiss. He responds back and she pulls away playful and joyous. She plays with the top of his navy shirt and the three buttons there. She says, " I was about to shower, but you're welcome to join me."
His smile is not there as her eyes meet his. There is a hidden sadness within those blue hues. She doesn't know why his features display this on his face. He says nothing in response to her invitation. His eyes drift to her dresser. There is the necklace he had given her a few days before for luck on her project presentations within the next week.
He reaches for the pendant and touches the white stone he carved himself. His finger etches the markings and she watches him in silence. Something is wrong. She comes to him and places her hand on his and asks, " What's wrong?"
His eyes catch her gaze and he murmurs, " Nothing,"
She sighs and utters, " Anakin don't shut me out."
His eyes stay on the pendant and he doesn't want to say the things he's about to say. He didn't want to wait until the end of the week. He had to do it now before he lost his courage to end things with her. He doesn't know where to start. He has to break her heart and his in the process. He knows if he doesn't then her career ends here. Her dreams die all because of his stupidity. If he had just kept his feelings to himself, they wouldn't be in this situation right now. They wouldn't have to have their hearts break.
His voice is flat as he begins, " I've been thinking about the future."
Her hand grasps his reassuring him to continue and relieve his stress. " Yes?"
His eyes leave the japor and watch her hopeful eyes. He can sense her hope that he will ask her to wait for him. Gods- why?
" P-, I've been thinking about our future and we've got to think about our futures apart."
She bites her lip in anticipation and allows him to continue, " You will be starting an internship in the spring and I will be at the academy. We're going to spend months- no years apart and-"
The force swirls a warning at him. As if it warns him that if the words spill from his lips, then this will come back to bite him. As if the force has cursed him as if they have a destiny together and he is robbing them both of that destiny.
Padme' stops him and replies happily, " I'm applying for internships on Coruscant so when the time comes I can be near you."
He lets go of her hand and states flatly, " No. Pad- we can't. I won't let you make decisions about your future to follow me."
Her eyes blink back in surprise of his reaction to her plan. She stammers out, " I thought you'd want me to be close by-"
There it is the break. He can feel the breaking of their bond through the force. Her worry is heightened as well as her fears. She swallows painfully and listens to his next words, " Our careers will put us at different ends of the galaxy. P- remember what I said about you going on with your life, it's time for us to realize this now- before-."
The tears are hidden behind her eyes but she spits out, " Before what Anakin? Before I fall in love with you?"
HIs tries to keep his own tears at bay. He doesn't cry ever. His own heart breaking at hearing her broken voice. The tears behind her brown eyes spring to life as he tries to continue. " Yes- I made a mistake in pursuing you that night. It should never have gone this far."
Too Late. His mind tells him. He doesn't know if she loves him yet. He hadn't even told her. He had only shown her his feelings each day and night they were together. He knows she could have feelings for him, but it has to end here.
She blinks back her tears in anger. Her heart pounds in her chest. It had become clear now to her. It had taken him speaking those unspoken words of her possible feelings to know she loved him and gods he was throwing it all away for their damn futures apart!
Her voice is filled with hurt as her tone is accusing, " I don't think it was a mistake and I think you don't either."
He looks above her head and into the setting sun. It is hard to believe 24 hours ago they had been happy and holding each other.
" It was a mistake, " His voice states firmly. He knows his next words will burn her but she'll get over it. She'd move on from this hurt and find someone new.
" I can't be the man for you. Being a soldier won't be easy and I cannot ask you to give up your dreams for me. We'd both be lying to ourselves if we went down this path."
His words sting and she knows he's right. At this point her dreams have been pushed aside because of her desire to be with him. She would be giving up her dreams and she'd regret it if she gave up her dreams for anyone but herself.
" It would destroy us, " She whispers with dread. But what of their friendship? Had she lost her best friend too?
He nods and backs away from her.
" What of our friendship?" She whispers out, keeping the distance between them.
Her eyes are dead set on his. He responds, " I will always be here for you."
Tears stream freely as she whispers, " You aren't right now, get out."
Her command stings both of them. He expected this - the end of an era. The end of their friendship which had been crumbling since the months prior. He nods and doesn't argue with her. He has said what he needed to. He turns on his heels and leaves her to her peace.
As soon as the door closes, her legs crumble beneath her. Her sobs come out as she turns her body so she can clutch her knees. She rocks back and forth crying her heart out. She had no idea what had changed his mind, but he had. Something had happened and she didn't know what had occurred. He had been so happy and pleasant this morning.
Her sobs continue as her brain ponders over their conversation this morning. Nothing had been out of the ordinary. Had someone found out about them? Is that why he had broken things off with her? Or did he truly believe things couldn't work out between them? She doesn't know what to believe, but she's exhausted and she climbs into her bed. She lays there with the sheet pulled slightly over her body as she shuts her eyes and tries to wash away the past evening's event with nothing but blackness.
To Be Continued...
Footnotes: E chu ta!-An insult.
Hi chuba du naga?- What do you want?