Ahsoka darted through the spaces in between groups of people, cutting close corners and narrowly avoiding obstacles such as landspeeders and dumpsters. She was – as usual – in a rush, this time to get to the tram station. She had to get to work, and she wanted to impress Dex with arriving punctually.

It would be a first, and she was determined to make it.

She ran up a staircase and down another, hurrying across the station to the tracks that would bring her to Dex's Diner. But just as she made it to the platform, the tram was beginning to pull away.

That was just her luck.

Suddenly, she smiled. That was just her luck... She had a funny feeling she would be able to pull the same stunt from that morning, except with a few changes.

Taking a split-second to catch her breath, she broke into a run again. She seemed to be full of energy, which wasn't normal. It was probably that she was all hopped up on Lux Bonteri – the very thought of him made a grin appear on her face. Whatever magical influence he had on her system was apparently being converted into adrenaline.

She put on a burst of speed. Once again, the door handle was nearly within her reach. The end of the platform was getting closer and closer. But then, as she was bunching her muscles to jump, fingers outstretched–

Someone grabbed hold of the back of her sweater, and yanked her back just before the end of the walkway.

It was a bit of a shock to her system to be pulled backwards when she was riding on all that momentum, and she nearly fell over. Whoever it was that had rescued her grabbed onto her arm, steadying her.

For a moment, her usual fears came back. Suddenly petrified of what she'd been about to do, she clung to the sleeve around the arm that had pulled her back as if they might let go. It was loose and woolen, like it was part of a cloak.

"What, are you crazy?" a voice hissed. It was a man's voice, she guessed – but not coming from someone older than twenty-five.

Ahsoka turned to look up at them for visual confirmation. She found herself staring into the face of a man who was perhaps twenty-three at the oldest. A few wavy locks of thick golden-brow hair stuck out from under their hood on their cloak.

His skin was a healthy tanned color, and quite tall – easily over six foot – with a wide frame that suggested some serious muscle. But was most remarkable about him was his eyes. There was a thin scar on over the right one, and they were a striking cerulean blue.

Had she been a good four years older, she would have considered flirting. But, as it was, she was only sixteen. Unlike the players in her Political Sciences class, she understood the concept of age gaps, no matter physical appearances.

But, there was also the fact that he had a grip as unbreakable as steel around her forearm, which immediately shattered any attempt at flirting. He was also herding her out of everyone on the platform's sight and into one of the alleyways branching off of the station.

Not a good situation for a slight girl of sixteen, and whose only excuse for a weapon to defend herself with was the compass in her geometry kit.

"Why did you do that?" he asked, his tone almost angry. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"Well, who wants to know?" Ahsoka asked boldly, her fear making her brave. "Why do you care?"

He ignored the first question, his cerulean eyes hard and cold. "I care because you're a young girl that nearly just killed herself trying to make that jump."

"Get off me!" she said, shaking her arm to try to dislodge his hand. "You're just some creep trying to take advantage of a teenage girl!"

"I am not!" he retorted angrily. "I'm just trying to help! It's my job to help people, and–" Then his eyes widened. "Wait, you're... You're the one I've been looking for..."

His grip slackened, and that was all Ahsoka needed. She wrenched her arm free, and, thinking back to something the older kids in the orphanage back on Shili had shown her, she kicked at the underside of his knee.

His stance weakened, she pushed him away with all the strength she had, and broke into a run.

He didn't follow her, or call for her to come back. He didn't need to. After all, he had slipped a piece of paper into Ahsoka's bag without her noticing. And he had a funny feeling that, sooner or later, circumstance would send her to the address written down on it in his messy handwriting.

She would come to them on her own time; no sooner and no later than that.

*Yeah that whole thing about a week going by before I updated again? I lied.

The reason is this. You seen, I have a music selection that I associate with what I'm planning will happen next in the story. I was listening to it earlier today, and my brain was like, "Hey, why don't we update? It's been a long, LONG two days, hasn't it?

So yeah. That happened.

And I KNOW I KNOW, the meeting between Ahsoka and (guess who?) Anakin was a little weird, but it's supposed to be like that. He's not actually a creep in this story, I just thought it would make it more interesting. Because after all, originally in the SWTCW movie they don't exactly get off on the right foot. But you'll see, it gets better... XD

I'll try to update soon, because I have a long weekend coming up and even if I don't have time then... *cue awesome pose and dramatic lighting* I will find a way...

Bye!