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❝𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭. ❞

❝𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦? ❞

❝𝘖𝘩, 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺. ❞

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»»-----------►Ｆｏｒｃｅ

𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐒É.

Her name is Clarissé.

What a perfect name for a perfect girl.

That was what Anakin Skywalker thought as the smooth, beautiful name rolled delicately off the otherworldly girl's tongue in front of him.

"That's a beautiful name," he stated gently as the little girl blushed once more. She started to fidget with a loose button on her spring green cardigan, causing the little boy in front of her to smirk at her bashful actions.

All of a sudden, a crash broke the two young children out of their intense staring contest with each other.

Jar Jar Binks ran out from a corner, chasing around some helpful droid. It was a wild goose chase, to say the least, and poor Jar Jar could not keep up with the speedy droid, causing Clarissé Amidala to giggle with amazement, the action encapsulating the young Anakin Skywalker.

The Gungan finally got a hold of the squirming droid, holding the poor thing by its skinny little neck.

"Hey..." Anakin calls for the aloof Gungan's attention.

"Wha?" Jar Jar asks as he turns towards the small boy next to the kind girl he considered to be one of his best friends.

"Hit the nose!" The slave ordered the idiotic Gungan as Jar Jar lifts a finger in the air and shouts, "Oh!" The realization hitting the Gungan like a pile of bricks.

Jar Jar taps the nose of the small droid and the droid immediately plopped down on the dusty floor with a soft crash by the Gungan's huge feet.

The little girl softly giggled once more and looks back towards the counter to find Anakin staring at her with a lovesick grin on his youthful, dirty face.

She blushes once more and coughs lightly, embarrassed and self conscious by his emotion filled glance.

"We should probably wait until Qui-Gon and Padmé are back, Jar Jar," Clarissé lightly reprimanded after the Gungan attempted to exit the store, his high pitched voice slightly whining at her command as he walked further back into the store, the girl's vibrant eyes following him.

She turned towards the blonde boy on Watto's counter, who was still cleaning the spare part with a dirty, oily rag.

She sighed and moved to stand by the archway to the outside world, waiting for Qui-Gon and Padmé's return.

"Where are you from?" The young boy prodded at the Queen of Naboo, watching her with skillful eyes.

The queen turned back to meet the slave's stare, frowning slightly from the mention of her home.

"I'm from Naboo."

"Is Naboo a pretty planet?" The young slave asked as he curiously watched the Nubian girl turn around and start to walk back towards him.

"It's the most gorgeous, wonderful planet in the whole galaxy," she proclaimed as Anakin saw the wonder and love in her eyes from talking about her home, "Sometimes I wish that I could stay there with my family forever, with no tedious expectations weighing on me."

The young queen bit her lip thoughtfully, her head deep into its own world.

"On the other hand I suppose I want to get away from my home planet and explore the galaxy, learn about the different cultures and species. Their languages," Clarissé Amidala confessed as she looked at the slave boy in front of her, his own eyes staring straight into hers with understanding swimming beneath the azure blue, "My mother and older sister, Sola, always did call me too curious for my own good."

"Curiousness can be good thing," the blonde boy imputed from the back of the room, his loving grin towards the queen never fading, "I know I get curious from time to time. Mainly about what the galaxy is like outside of Tatooine."

"You've never left?" The young royal questioned as she looked at the slave boy with empathy present in her emerald eyes.

Anakin shook his head from side to side, telling her that he had not.

"I've never been outside of Tatooine," he claimed, his eyes saddening, "Watto doesn't let my mother and I leave. But I can promise you, as soon as I can get a speeder when I'm older, I'm gonna take my mom and get out of here as quick as you can say 'Anakin'!"

Clarissé smiled with a melancholy undertone, feeling even more connected and bonded with the boy.

"I'm so sorry you're in a predicament like this, Anakin," she whispered lightly, her voice making the young slave boy's heart soar, "You and your mother shouldn't have to go through something like this. It's cruel and vile and disgusting, and I hope in the future I can do something to prevent or abolish slavery."

The strong persona of the young queen made Anakin smile widely, letting out a sigh of contentment at the girl.

"Besides," she started, looking around the shop while reaching for a spare part on the elevated shelf in front of her petite figure, "you and I are very similar. I also can't leave Naboo, even if I wanted to."

Anakin Skywalker became confused at her statement: What did she mean she couldn't leave?

"What do you mean you can't leave?"

The young brunette sighed with conflicted thoughts, her young but bright and brilliant mind swarming and racing with all the responsibilities she had as a young child.

"I have too many obligations and responsibilities to just leave my home like that, Anakin. Naboo needs me."

The young boy stared intently at the brunette girl before him, immersed in her beauty but also in her very clever and curious personality. He didn't know why, but the young girl seemed to get more perfect with each passing moment.

"Are you a politician or something over there?" He asked, puzzled beyond belief at Clarissé Naberrie.

The girl stopped for a moment, as she was about to spill on the secret she had to keep hidden from the rest of the galaxy until everything was settled, but Anakin seemed so trusting to her, and she knew he meant well with his questioning.

"I'm the most important handmaiden to Queen Amidala of Naboo," she decided to say, keeping her dainty chin held up high, "the Queen, and thus the kingdom, cannot function without me."

It was a little far fetched, but it seemed to work on the young Anakin Skywalker, who still had some doubts but shoved them away in order to trust her.

After all, how could he not when she even so much as spared a glance towards him with her breathtaking eyes.

"Besides, it's not like I don't enjoy my job," the young brunette affirmed as she looked towards a shelf of some sort, "I love helping the people of my planet, it's just an extremely stressful occupation. You never get a break from the pressure or expectations they place on you."

She stopped as she looked at the young blonde once more, staring at him with an anxiety filled stare.

"You never get to be free," she almost whispered, looking down as soon as the words left her mouth.

The young slave boy in front of her immediately felt sympathy for his new, beautiful companion.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, his eyes looking sadly at the curious girl.

She lightly smiled at his consideration.

"I appreciate it, but you don't need to be," she mumbled off, looking at a button on her cardigan, "there's nothing you or anyone can really do. It's just the way things are." She shrugged with numbness.

"Anyway," she shook her head to get all of the sad thoughts out, her braids shaking out and falling once more, "what about you? How have you survived a place like this? I imagine it's increasingly difficult."

The slave boy shrugged with no definitive emotion present on his face.

"I'm not really sure," he stated, leaning his head back to look at the curious girl, "I wouldn't have lasted very long if I weren't so good at fixing things, I guess."

As the two young children stared at each other with emotion deep in their eyes, Jar Jar Binks had taken it upon himself to pull out a stack of unstable parts, causing the whole tower to collapse on his frail form.

The Gungan yelped out in surprise, although no one would come to his rescue as Anakin Skywalker and Clarissé Amidala continued to stare at one another without a care in the world.

It was as if no one else mattered to the two, only each other. No one else lived in the world they were living in.

The two probably would have continued to stare at each other if Qui-Gon Jinn, Padmé Naberrie, and Artoo Detoo walked in unexpectedly, the Jedi of the group storming over to Clarissé.

"We're leaving," he gruffly ordered, glancing over to the toppled over Gungan in the corner of the room. "Jar Jar?" He questioned, bewildered at the sight of the silly Gungan, although he couldn't say he was surprised. The damn creature was certainly a handful.

The group started to walk out, until a certain beautiful brunette looked back to find Anakin Skywalker giving her a longing glance, not wanting her to leave.

She smiled at him with love and farewell, starting to walk backwards as Padmé looked back into the archway to see what was up with her sister.

"I'm glad to have met you, Anakin," Clarissé drawled sweetly, still holding the breathtaking smile on her amazing face.

She turned around and was halfway out the archway when the slave boy called out, "I was glad to meet you too, Clarissé!"

She turned around and gave me a knee weakening smile, bright, pearly teeth and all.

And then she disappeared.

Right out of Anakin Skywalker's sight.

Anakin, with a lovesick smile on his youthful but dirty face, sighed in pure happiness.

"What a girl..." he mumbled underneath his breath, amazed by the young Amidala-Naberrie.

Watto soon flew into the shop, shaking his head where the departed group once was. Anakin still had the same lovesick smile he always seemed to have with Clarissé Amidala-Naberrie around.

"Boy!" Watto snapped at Anakin, scolding him for his daydreaming about the young queen of Naboo, "Stop smiling all lovey dovey like that."

Anakin's loving smile soon dropped into a depressed frown, the bright light in his eyes slowly dimming.

"Sorry," he mumbled, walking twice as fast to clean the greasy part now that Watto was overseeing him.

The Toydarian scowled out back towards the archway, his hideous face twisted in distrust, causing his bulbous nose to crinkle around the edges.

"Outlanders," he mumbled loud enough for Anakin to hear him, "They think they know everything. Especially that little girl with the braids. She's a freak of nature, that one. Too curious about the little things in life, and too kind to hold herself up. She wouldn't survive a day out here on Tatooine, or anywhere in the galaxy, for that matter."

For some reason, the Toydarian shopkeeper's words about Clarissé aggravated the young slave boy. He hated his owner, that much was true, but the fact Watto had the gull to say those things about Clarissé, ticked Anakin off more than anything else in his young life.

He wasn't sure why, either, because he had just met the girl. There was something about her though. Something he desperately liked.

Maybe it was her overwhelming kindness towards everything, even non-living items!

Perhaps it was her never ending curiousness towards the many things this galaxy had to offer. Clarissé was a learner, always attempting to know more knowledge about whatever it is her heart desired.

Or maybe it was her galaxy altering eyes. After all, the glowing, bright green had practically embedded itself into the young slave's mind.

And something told Anakin the young queen of Naboo could hold herself up extremely well. She was not someone to mess with.

"They seemed nice to me," Anakin slightly defended, scared to fully tell Watto off, as he constantly would hit the young boy if he defied him, "especially the girl with the braids, Clarissé."

Watto waved his slave off, still looking towards the archway, half expecting the group to come back.

Anakin hoped and prayed they would, for he would get to see Clarissé again.

"I don't care what her name is. She's still trouble all the same," the Toydarian scolded as he continued to glance towards the entrance, "Clean the racks, and then you can go home."

Anakin let out a small 'yippee' and then jumped off the counter, running off to go clean his last item for the day, all the while thinking of the same girl the entire time.

Clarissé Naberrie.

What a beautiful name.

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A/N: Hey guys! Long time no see! Actually though, this chapter felt strange to write. I don't know what it was but it is definitely shorter. Spring break starts for me tomorrow, so expect a ton of new chapters and stuff like that to come out around that week. I'll see you guys sometime next week! As always, goodbye!

Fun Fact: Clarissé literally loves her name, since it means 'bright'. She's always appreciated its happy and meaningful meaning.

Word Count: 2225 words