You woke up in the overly-bright white room, just the same as every morning had been for the past few months. Today was a big day, though, because your briefing was finally over and the job was to begin.
The Kaminoans had hired you for your expert bounty-hunting and combat skills, but also your youth. This was important to them because every other hunter they seemed to find was much older, and they wanted someone close to the age range of the subjects so they could be related to.
The Kaminoans also trusted you with their secrets- but they didn't trust you too much- you haven't been allowed to leave the godforsaken planet. Every day was the same. Wake up, train, study, look at the rain, sleep.
You had spent this whole time learning about the clones and how they work, but you still hadn't met any despite the place being riddled with them. You've only seen them in passing. But today a batch of them were ready for training, and it was your turn in the cycle of hunters to take the lead.
You weren't nervous until you realized what an insane situation this was. The Jedi- a group of galactic "peacekeepers"- had ordered this army of clones to fight in their war? And they hired you- a young woman with a knack for fighting?
The batch of clones that were assigned to you were nearly done with training, and were almost ready for war. Your job was to simply nitpick and find the most suitable ones for higher positions. You were to decide who stood out.
You walked into the room where they all were communing, identical young men were messing around with each other, some acting like children, and some looking anxious for what was to come. One of them finally noticed you after you had been observing for about half a minute.
"Attention!" He yelled to the others, who stopped what they were doing and scrambled to order themselves in front of you.
"I am (Y/N). But you will call me sir."
"Sir yes sir!" They said in unison, lifting a hand to salute.
"I understand your training is almost complete," you said, pacing in front of them as you felt their eyes bore into you. "But that's only just the beginning. Right now you are just men. But I will make you into soldiers. The finest the Grand Army of the Republic has to offer!"
"Sir yes sir!" They said.
"I will know your every weakness!" You eyed one of them and he winced. "I will know your every strength!" You shot a look at another who reacted similarly. "And I will make sure every one of you is prepared for anything the galaxy will throw at you." You stopped pacing. "Have I made myself clear, men?"
"Sir, yes sir!"
"Good." You said. It was impossible to tell any of them apart when they are all standing together like that. Their eyes were all locked on you, waiting for the next instruction or intimidation. You decided it was time to test them.
-time skip-
Once you had a good gauge of their skills in different areas- including weapons handling, agility, quick thinking, etc.- it was clear who some of the standouts were. You had managed to learn all of their identification numbers or names if they had them. A couple of them even asked you to give them their own name. It was still impossible to know which was which if they didn't have indications on their uniforms.
On the top of your list of standouts was a clone named Rex. It was clear that he was going to be one that you selected for a high position, but for the next few weeks you got to see them all progress and work on their skills. He preferred to fight with dual DC-17 blaster pistols, and he worked very well under pressure. This was a natural-born leader, despite his birth being anything but natural.
Your job was to train the clones, and you decided part of that was knowing them as people and not just as clones. You spent a while getting to know most of them, but hadn't gotten to Rex yet. You decided he'd be the last one you meet by the end of the day.
"Rex, is it?" You approached him, making sure by reading "CT-7567" on his shirt. He quickly stood up straight and saluted. "Yes, sir!" He said. You held out your right hand and smiled. "Eh, we're off duty. It's just (Y/N) now."
He took your hand and shook it awkwardly. "Hello, (Y/N). The name's Rex." He said. "Uh, well I guess you already knew that."
"Nothing wrong with a proper introduction." There was something different about him than the others. He had the same brown hair, the same standard-issue military haircut, but his eyes... the same color, but there was something deeper inside them....
You found yourself staring deeply into his eyes, as your hands were still locked together for an uncomfortably long period of time. The two of you retracted your hands and laughed nervously. Why is he so different? You are his superior, not some shy schoolgirl.
Your goal is to get to know the clones, and Rex so far seems to have the most potential, so that has to be why you're giddy about him. That's it.
"So, why don't you join me in the mess hall? Then we can take a stroll around the... hallways... afterwards?" You said. This should not be as awkward as it is.
"Definitely." He said. Together you made your way to the mess hall where all of the others were, and you sat down with them all. They seemed to stiffen up with your prescense, but you wanted them to feel at ease when you were around.
"I'm not always your commanding officer. We are peers, you know. I'm your friend." You said to not any specific clone in particular. Some of them loosened up and returned to their normal behavior. You had only known them for a day, but you could tell these would become fine soldiers.
After dinner Rex joined you as you walked down the hallways. The route you took was a routine one, though there really was no end destination other than your quarters.
"So, (Y/N)," Rex started conversation first. "What do you like to do for fun?"
Fun, eh? It had been a while. You were young, but you had to grow up pretty fast to survive. But when you did have time, you liked to engage in creative endeavors.
"In my free time I like to paint." You said.
"Oh? What do you paint?"
"Whatever I want, really." You said. "My room, the rain, the white hallways..."
"It sounds like you need some more interesting things to paint." He smiled.
"I'd love to paint you sometime, actually." You said. You could have sworn a blush crept upon his cheeks, but he turned his face away from you.
"I've never been very good at staying still." He said.
"Not to worry. You don't really have to stay that still." You said.
"Good. Then maybe I will take you up on that offer, whenever you feel like painting next." He smiled again. His smile was so notable you'd think you'd have to list it among his strengths. But that's for battle, not for attraction.
Attraction? That's not what this is, is it? You pushed the thought away.
"What do you like to do for fun, Rex?"
He hesitated. "Oh, I guess I don't really know. I-I like to spend time with my brothers, and play games together, and things like that."
As he went on, your eyes drifted to his hair. The same dark brown standard haircut all of the clones had. Surely his personality warranted something different, right?
"Have you ever thought of dyeing your hair, Rex?" You said.
He seemed completely caught off-guard.
"Well, I've never given it much thought, since the Kaminoans don't really encourage individuality..." he started. "But I think that would be pretty cool."
"Well, the Kaminoans aren't in charge anymore, I am. At least for now until you go off to who-knows-where." You said. "You wanna do it right now?"
He looked a bit shocked but you could see an expression on his face that can only be described with the phrase "You Only Live Once."
"Come on!" You said, grabbing Rex by the hand without really thinking about it. You felt him tense up for a second, but he didn't pull away. You started leading him to your quarters.
Because you liked to paint, you always wanted some other mediums in which to express your creative endeavors, so you had hair dye on hand. Now was the time to use it.
Someone as special as Rex deserved to have a defining feature, right? And that's what you plan to give him.
You sat him down in your room and gave him a little tarp to put around himself that you usually use when painting.
As you went through the process of dyeing his hair, the two of you got to know each other better. Of course, there wasn't really much for him to tell yet, since his entire life was largely the same as all of his brothers' lives, and you already knew that whole story quite well. But you got to tell him of your life and how you landed this job, and he seemed really interested.
It didn't take very long since his hair was so short, and now you have a blonde Rex in your room. He checked himself out in your mirror, marveling at his new look.
"I love it!" He exclaimed. It really did fit him, and this would definitely set him apart from his brothers. Especially to you, who had a hard time differentiating them anyways....
Hopefully the Kaminoans won't be upset about you doing this. But if they get mad at him they can take it up with you. If you get punished it'll all be worth it just for this moment.
"Thank you, (Y/N)," he said with a gentle-sounding voice. "This means a lot to me."
You didn't expect for this to hit him so deeply, but you guessed when your whole life is filled with identical faces and voices, it's nice to have a change.
"You're welcome." You said. In a rush of boldness, you leant forward and placed a kiss on his cheek.
He blushed madly and lifted his hand to where you had just kissed. He started to stutter a bit, obviously not knowing how to react.
"I'm sorry, I must have misread this. I shouldn't have done that..." you started.
"No, no... I liked it." He said. "I honestly wouldn't mind if you wanted to do it again, maybe." He said with a smirk. What a tease.
This time you kissed him fully on the lips. For a clone bred in a lab who's never known anything about romance, he was a natural at kissing. You thought you'd be the one taking the lead, but Rex kissed back passionately, lifting his hands to cup your face.
After a little while you broke apart, barely able to contain your smiles. You cleared your throat and stood up straight.
"Well cadet, I think your training is complete." You giggled a bit.
"Sir, yes sir," Rex said with an exaggeratedly seductive tone and salute.
The two of you laughed.
You knew the time you had with Rex on Kamino would be short, but you could also tell Rex was not the type to abandon the people he cares about. You would be ready for whatever the future holds.
And despite your knowledge of the biology of the clones and their inhibitor chips, you were determined to make this relationship work.
The end.
Thanks for reading!!! Haha yes you do know about the inhibitor chips 👀 but you don't know about order 66- just the existence of inhibitor chips for the whole "Jango is aggressive" argument.
Let me know what you thought of this one!! I thought it would be cute to have a little origin story for Rex's blonde hair!
Again, thank you for reading!