Author's note-- :P hello everyone. this is my first story and meh bestest buddy, sammi, who you guys know (or don't know) as insanity's child, insisted that i put this on the website so here it is. i'm not expecting any reviews or anything so you don't have to leave comments. and this is from my point of view actually, i'm karkaja. of course that's not my real name, it's just my name for if i were in the zelda ocarina of time game. if you must know, my real name is KarenAnn, yes karenann, just one word and no space and the a is caps but i don't like to capitilize stuff when i don't need to so :P lol. anyway constructive criticism is widely welcome. i hope some people like it! :D
We were at the carnival in Castle Town. It was about noon and loaded with many different kinds of people, ranging from Zoras to Gerudos. Sheik and I had lost Alyssa by now, but that was to be expected. We didn't really worry, seeing as we had all agreed to meet up just outside of Castle Town around four if one of us got lost. It was so crowded, I was worried about getting lost from Sheik, and –as if he had just read my mind- he grabbed my hand and towed me through the crowd. I felt the heat rushing to my face as I heard someone whisper to their friend something about "public affection" and "cute couple". Sheik glanced back when I stumbled to make sure I was okay, and he must have seen my bright red face, because he had a confused look on his. I hoped he just thought I was embarrassed because I had tripped over absolutely nothing, but I was quickly proved wrong when he asked why I was so flushed.
"Um…nothing, I just stumbled. It's embarrassing," I greatly hoped that he would take this lousy excuse.
"If you say so," Sheik muttered.
Good. He took my excuse for the moment, and grabbed my hand again to drag me around. I made a sudden halt –that almost made Sheik fall- when I saw a purple tent with silver music notes embroidered into the material.
"PURPLE!!" I gasped. Sheik still a little disoriented followed my gaze and pulled me toward the tent.
It was much quieter inside than it was outside, probably because of the thick material of the tent. It also smelled very good, like vanilla. I then spotted the burning stick of incense sitting next to the shopkeeper, who was a Gerudo with a very beautiful blue outfit. The beauty of her blue outfit made my purple dress –which I very much disliked- look like rags.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Sheik eyeing a very delicate looking, golden harp. It wasn't until then did I even realize what was being sold at this shop. There were so many beautiful, different colored instruments, that it took my breath away. But what caught my eye was a small wooden piccolo that was painted a dark, deep purple.
The shopkeeper greeted us as we walked closer to her desk and introduced herself as Naruna.
"Miss Naruna?" I asked. Being polite to strangers was in my nature.
"Yes? And please dear, just call me Naruna. It always makes me feel so old when you say it like that," she joked lightly, "I'm only 23 you know," Naruna laughed and gave me a moment to ask my question.
"May I try it out?" I asked pointing to the purple piccolo that I could easily hide in my Sheikah outfit at home.
"Of course dear," she laughed again, she had such a bright spirit that I couldn't help but to smile along with her laughter.
I played a note or two and it worked just fine, "How much for this one Mi—I mean Naruna?"
"For you? Twenty rupees," Naruna said with a very kind, warm smile on her face.
I got out twenty rupees from my purse –that I unwillingly carried- and gave them to her. "How much for that harp over there?" I wondered as I pointed towards it. Sheik looked at me with shock and disbelief on his face.
He was opening his mouth to protest, when Naruna interrupted him, "Well the original price is eighty, but…" she trailed off. I gave her a moment to continue before I would say anything. "…I think it will be thirty-five for you two. Yes thirty-five will do," she decided
Sheik finally decided to get his word in, "No Kaj! You can't get that for me! What will I give in return? I couldn't possibly-" the frantic male Sheikah was interrupted in the middle of his sentence.
"Stop. You are my friend and you want the harp. I will give you the harp and you won't argue. Correct?"
"Fine," he grumbled, his cheeks slightly pinkish, "But I will give you something in return," he promised.
I handed Miss Naruna the rupees and grabbed our purchases. She kindly wished us a good day and that we get home safely. It was almost four –the gossip stones told us- and Sheik continued to hold my hand throughout the time we were at the carnival. I know that he simply did it so that we wouldn't lose each other, but the warmth and comfort of his hand made my cheeks burn bright red again.
"What's wrong?" Sheik asked as we strolled around looking for interesting shops.
"What do you mean?" I asked and I could feel the heat on my face still.
"You're really red again. Are you getting sick?" he asked anxiously as he pressed his free hand to my forehead.
"No! I feel just fine, I guess I'm…um…" as I searched for an excuse, Sheik's attention was averted as he heard someone call our names.
"Kaj? Sheik? Sheik! Karkaja! Over here!", my cousin, Alyssa, shouted.
She was waving her arms around, trying to get our attention. Sheik dragged me over towards her. I sighed in relief, knowing that Alyssa was okay and also because I didn't have to answer Sheik's question. It was a little hard for me to see as Sheik guided us toward Alyssa. Probably because of my huge bang covering my right eye –my right your left-, but the bang was just part of my style. I was just grateful that my hair wasn't long like it used to be, that drove me crazy. No, instead of long, my hair was shorter in the back and longer in the front –like a bob cut-, had many layers, and was blonde.
We got past the large crowd that was currently crowding a tent that sold masks, and got to my cousin who is twelve, so one year younger than me and 3 years younger than Sheik.
"Finally! Where were you guys?!" Alyssa asked, getting a little impatient.
"We were at a really cool tent that was purple!" I responded quickly.
"Oh my gods! Really where?!" she asked, obviously intrigued by the color purple, as was I.
"Wayyyy back there," I said, jerking my thumb over my shoulder, towards the crowd.
"Oh, in that case never mind. That crowd looks really scary," Alyssa said, a little disappointed.
"I think we better get going," Sheik said, letting go of my hand once he saw that Alyssa had noticed.
"Awww," both Alyssa and I said in unison, in our whiney voice. We didn't want to go.
"Come on, we can do the rides when we come back tomorrow," Sheik insisted, obviously knowing why we were complaining. We didn't get to ride a single ride.
"Fine," I replied, "But I am not wearing this ridiculous dress tomorrow!" I was slightly aggravated that we had to dress "normal" to get past the guards of the castle, seeing as our Sheikah outfits would catch attention from the people of Castle Town. If we caught their attention, they would most likely inform a guard and then Impa would know that we snuck out of the castle. I shuddered at the thought and said, "Impa's going to freak out if she knows that we snuck out."
"I know. That's why we should get back," Sheik insisted again.
With that, the three of us were off. We snuck past the guards, which was fairly easy because of the fact that the helmets almost cover their eyes.
"Sheik, you can head to your room. I can get Alyssa back to hers," I said, once we were safely inside the castle and past the guards.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, come on Alyssa let's get going."
"Okay!" Alyssa said with a smile. Since she was the youngest of us three, she didn't know the way around the castle as well. And since she just started her Sheikah training three months ago, she wasn't as sneaky as me, or especially Sheik, who had started his Sheikah training at the age of two. I started at the age of six.
Sheik ran off, after saying goodbye to Alyssa and I. We walked in silence through the –almost pitch black- hallway. Our eyes glowed a dull red in the dark, which was very eerie to other people that weren't so used to it. You could only hear one set of very quiet footsteps as we walked. I had learned by now how to be completely silent as I walked, and did it out of habit, unconsciously. Alyssa was learning that, she could make her quiet but not silent.
We weren't talking much because as Sheikahs, one of the things we learn is to not talk unless we're spoken to. Don't get me wrong, my cousin and I are close, we are like best friends actually, but there just wasn't anything to talk about. And I didn't know if I wanted to tell anyone how I felt towards Sheik quite yet. That particular rule though, always slipped my mind when I was with Sheik, seeing as how we were childhood friends, and he was definitely my best friend. We finally got to her door just after a short five minutes.
"Bye Alyssa," I said as I hugged her, "I'll see you tomorrow, and I love you…in a sisterly way of course," I added with a smile.
"Bye! See ya tomorrow! I love you too cuz," she said with an exhausted looking smile on her face. Which makes sense because it was a little late. Getting past the guards must have taken longer than it seemed, because when I glanced at the alarm clock in her room, it said eleven pm.
"Get some sleep," I added as I closed the door to her room behind me. I could her plop onto her bed. Good, I thought, it would suck if she were too tired to go to the carnival tomorrow.
As I approached my door, I saw a dim glow underneath the bottom of the door. Shit! I hope I didn't leave the light on all day. I opened the door and was surprised to see Sheik laying across my bed, staring at the ceiling. It was a little humorous to see though, because he was taller than I am by several inches –and I'm five foot eight and a half- so his feet were dangling slightly over the edge.
"Hello," he said, sitting up and swinging his legs over the edge, so I could sit down.
"Hi, um…what are you doing in my room?" I said as I set my –shudders- purse on my bedside table, and put the piccolo on top of my dresser.
"I wanted to make sure that you got to your room safely," he replied, saying it as if it were the most obvious thing, "Did you hear about how there are monsters that started running around recently?" he added with a frown.
I could feel the scared and shocked look on my face, "M-monsters?"
"Yes, I wanted to make sure that you got here safely," he repeated and then laughed quietly, "I thought Sheikahs weren't supposed to be afraid of monsters," he mocked.
Okay now I was just angry, "I'm not afraid," I spoke quietly as I stood next to the bed, where he was sitting, "I'm just worried…" I trailed off.
"Really? The look on your face says otherwise," he stated.
I cursed my face for betraying me. Okay so I obviously wasn't fooling anyone, so I gave up that act and admitted the truth, "Okay, so I'm a cowardly Sheikah, who's afraid of monsters," I said sourly.
"That's nothing to be ashamed of," Sheik assured me as he patted the spot on my bed next to him.
I sat down cross-legged, next to him on my straw bed, "Will they be out during the day or is t only at night?" I asked.
"Only very late at night, so you don't need to be too scared. I'll protect you at night," Sheik promised.
"No! No way! You need to get sleep too you know," I said matter-of-factly
"Fine, I'll just sleep on the floor in your room then," he insisted.
"The floor? No, you can have the bed, I'll take the floor," there was no way I was going to let him sleep on the floor.
"No, I told you I was going to give you something in return for the harp, and this is what I'm giving you. Protection," he pressed even further.
"Fine," I mumbled, as I let a huge yawn escape my mouth.
"You're tired," Sheik chuckled, "You should get some sleep."
"No," I murmured. I was trying to fight my heavy eyelids. I groaned as I lost the fight. I felt my straw bed move a little as Sheik got up, and lifted me up to lay me down across the bed. He grabbed the blanket, which was in a bundle at the end of the bed, and put it over me. I drifted into sleep, still wearing that damn dress.