Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.

THE PRINCESS AND THE PHILANDERER

It was night, and the army had made camp. Everyone was busy in their work, eating, checking up on their weapons, provisions, practicing, or had plain fallen asleep.

One person, however, wasn't doing much.

Inigo was slipping off into the woods, in the direction of the village. No one seemed to be noticing him; no one, that is, except for Lucina.

Lucina frowned as she watched him. She wished the unruly mercenary would stay around, didn't he know it was dangerous to wander around by himself at night? The Risen could attack him!

'He's probably going to the village for some girl,' said a small voice in the back of her mind. She brushed it off. He was always like this, she reflected. It wasn't that he wasn't a good fighter; on the contrary, he was excellent in battle, calm, focused, absolutely lethal. But off the field, he was an idiot whose only interest seemed to woo girls and go around grinning like an fool. Especially lately he'd seem to become even worse; there probably wasn't a girl in camp that he had hit on.

'Been noticing him a lot lately, haven't we?' the voice in her head said. She shook her head. "Everyone's noticed," she muttered. "He's literally hits on every female. Everyone! And Noire told me she once saw him hitting on a sign post." She sighed. "This isn't going to work. I'll go get him back. Sneaking off to see girls is not a good thing for a Shepherd! He needs to rest in order to be in top condition in battle."

'Jealous?' the voice asked.

"No I'm not!" she said. "I am not interested what girl he spends his time with. I just don't want him dead because he's a useful addition to the army."

'Then why're you thinking so much about him?' the voice persisted.

Inigo had disappeared into the forest, and she set off in his direction, thinking furiously. This was ridiculous. Inigo was an idiot, a fluff-headed fool! So why did she feel so weird about him? He was the stupid one, he was the one who kept pestering her to smile, at a time like this, in the middle of a war, dammit, he was the one who kept making stupid jokes and flirting and yet she still…

'… you like him,' the voice said. Lucina bit her lip. 'I do not,' she argued back. It was him, his fault. She was just going to go and tell him-

Then she came upon Inigo, she forgot what she was going to say.

Inigo hadn't gone to the village. He had made his was to a small clearing in the woods, secluded from the camp. And he was dancing.

Lucina stared.

The clearing was dappled with moonlight, and a soft breeze was blowing in the trees. And in the middle of this, Inigo was dancing. He was going slowly, sensuously, spinning and circling and… dancing. It was amazing. He was amazing.

Lucina blushed. Her mind was a confused jumble of emotions. Some part of her mind registered that her jaw was hanging open and how horribly inappropriate it was to stare at someone without their knowledge, but the most part of her mind was only registering the fact that Inigo was dancing, and he looked beautiful and graceful and so, so wonderful.

Almost mesmerized, she took a step forward… and winced as a branch cracked under her feet.

Inigo stopped immediately, looking in her direction. His sharp eyes picked her out, even in the shadows.

"L-Lucina!" He exclaimed.

Lucina stared back at him. He was flushed and breathing heavily, his face covered by a thin sheen of sweat. He was just wearing a simple shirt and pant, and she noticed that his shirt was sticking to him, and the top of it was open, and the net result was that she could see every contour of his torso.

Suddenly, Lucina felt that it had gotten very, very hot in the clearing. She bit her lip and tried to regain her composure.

"Hi… I was looking for you," she said, trying to keep her voice calm.

"D-did you SEE me?!" Inigo asked. "Did you see me… dancing?"

"Yeah," Lucina said. "You were quite-"

"Argh , no!" Inigo cried. "I'm so SORRY! I bet it was horrible! Lucina, please don't tell anyone, okay? Seriously!"

"No, it was quite good," Lucina said, frowning. "You were wonderful."

Inigo stopped panicking and stared at her. "What?" he asked, suspicion coloring his voice. "I- really?"

"Yeah," Lucina said. "It was very good- you are a really good dancer."

"Oh," Inigo said, seeming to calm down a bit. "Well, yeah, thanks. Um, I gotta go. Bye!" And before she could say anything else, he ran past her towards the camp.

Lucina stood for a moment, staring at the place Inigo had been dancing.

'Okay, so maybe I like him a LITTLE bit,' she admitted to herself.

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