woohoot! Here's another IkeXSanaki. I had an inspiration overload! :D It's a continuation of 'She's so high above me', my last one. It takes place near the end of Radient Dawn. It's to my faveourite song in the entire world! Lovers in a Dangerous Time, by the Barenaked Ladies.
On with the show!
Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by?
We never get to stop and open our eyes.
"Hello, Ike," Sanaki said as they passed in the hall.
"Hello, Sanaki," Ike replied. He smiled at her. She returned his smile with one of her own.
She paused in walking for a moment, wanting to stay and talk to Ike, then said, "Oh! We have to be in that meeting soon, don't we?"
"Right! We do," said Ike. The two walked together toward the meeting room.
Ike sighed. Never a spare second, he thought. When Sanaki had sought their help, the two had fallen the rest of the way into what had started when they first met. Ike had thought it would change things, but they had no time to just be together.
One minute you're waiting for the sky to fall
Next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all.
"Sanaki," whispered Ike.
Sanaki opened her eyes. "What is it?" she whispered back.
"I have something to show you."
Sanaki, intrigued, got out of her bed. She walked with Ike out of her tent.
"Look up," he said, pointing to the sky.
Sanaki gasped. "It's incredible!" The sky was ablaze with palest pink, gold, orange, and each cloud looked like a rainbow.
Lovers in a dangerous time
Ike laughed. "It's even better from up on the hill. Come see." He took her hand, and the two ran up onto the hill nearby the camp. Sanaki leaned against Ike and stared at the sky, enraptured. He put an arm around her. "Bet you never saw something like this from Beignion," he said.
"Not once," breathed Sanaki. "You had to be up at the top floor to even see the sunset, and I was never able to see the sunrise."
Lovers in a dangerous time
She leaned against Ike, happy to finally have some time to spend with him. With all the things to do, the battles to fight, training, planning, negotiating, then dropping into bed when it was all over, she only ever saw Ike in his role as Commander. It was a relief to know Ike, the man, was still there.
These fragile bodies of touch and taste,
this fragrant skin, this hair like lace.
Ike looked at Sanaki. She stood tall and steady, making it easy to forget how small she was. She was short for her age, and slim. Her eyes were lit up by the sunrise, and she smiled. Ike decided he had never seen a girl as beautiful as she.
Spirits open to thrust of grace,
never a breath you can't afford to waste.
Sanaki turned to Ike. Her eyes still glowed, even though she faced away from the sunrise.
"It will be a while before the camp fully awakes," said Ike.
"That means we have some time to just be us," said Sanaki, "Instead of Commander and Discarded Empress."
"That's right," said Ike, "... unless you feel like going back to sleep."
"Going back to sleep?" Sanaki laughed. "Nothing could be further from my mind."
She leaned against him, and he kissed her.
Lovers in a dangerous time
"Well, well," said a voice from behind the two. "The upstart and the dishonoured empress. How sweet. I'm sorry it has to end so soon."
Lovers in a dangerous time
Ike and Sanaki sprang apart. Ike whipped out his sword, which was always at his side. "Sanaki, behind me."
Sanaki saw the sense of obeying. He had a weapon, while her tome was still in her tent. Ike backed up, as the group of golden soldiers closed in on them. He backed further and further, pushing Sanaki into the shelter of a bush hollow.
Lovers in a dangerous time
Sanaki looked around, desperately. They were surrounded completely. Even if she crawled through the bush, she couldn't get back to the camp and rouse the others.
"What are you doing here?" Ike said tensely, his sword pointed at the man who had spoken.
"Why, I'm launching a surprise attack on this camp of useless rebels who would overthrow the Goddess. But you two were awake, and I couldn't have you running off and warning the rest. So it's time for you to die."
Lovers in a dangerous time
Sanaki heard the clash of metal and saw as Ike countered the man's blow with his sword. The man backed up, hoping to pull Ike out to where he could be surrounded, and Sanaki killed. But Ike, a commander himself, stayed right where he was.
"Think you can fool me with that trick?" said Ike.
"No," said the man. "I was simply making room for this."
An archer walked forward to stand three feet away from Ike. Ike could not reach the man without exposing Sanaki and himself. An arrow fired. Ike dodged it, and Sanaki jerked to the side. The arrow twanged into the bush behind them.
When you're lovers in a dangerous time,
sometimes you're made to feel as if your love's a crime.
Sanaki grew tired of dodging, and she knew it was not long before an arrow speared either her or Ike. And Ike could not reach the archers without them both being defeated. If only she had her tome, those idiots wouldn't be so smug.
She saw an image of the Tome in her mind, and the page she used to cast her most powerful and favourite spell. If only it was a bit clearer... what were those words...
She heard Ike stifle a cry of pain as an arrow hit him in the arm. On instinct, she focussed on the archer and cried out her spell-words, her subconscious remembering them even if her upper mind did not.
Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight
You gotta kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight.
She saw, looking out from behind Ike, the shocked looks on their enemies faces as the archer was disintegrated where he stood.
"B-but she is unarmed!" cried the leader of the band.
"Without my Tome, yes," called Sanaki, "but a magic-user is never unarmed!" She lowered her voice. "Ike, I can hold my own fairly well in battle. What do you say we take these fools down?"
Ike smiled without turning his head. "You're on."
As one, the two burst out from the shelter of the bush. Ike lay around him with his sword, sending the golden knights flying. Sanaki cried out her spell-words, erasing all who came near her or Ike.
Lovers in a dangerous time
"Sanaki!" cried Ike, shoving her out of the way of an attack from behind. This left him surrounded by three enemies. Sanaki decided to lessen his load, and roasted one of them. They shared a smile.
Lovers in a dangerous time
Nothing stopped them. Sanaki took her anger at all the humiliation the masters of the golden knights had inflicted upon her, all the things they had done to Ike, his injury now, and formed it into a fire that burned hotter than that of her spell-book. She attacked with a new spell, one invented by her in fury. It was more powerful more focussed than even her old favourite.
Lovers in a dangerous time
There were many of the raiders, but they were unorganized, as Ike and Sanaki had been sure to take out their leader first. But there were a lot of them. Right when Sanaki thought they'd be overwhelmed, the morale of the party broke at Ike and Sanaki's ferocity and coordination, and they fled.
Ike and Sanaki stood up on the hill, watching them leave in mixed wonder and triumph.
Lovers in a dangerous time
Ike laughed. "Well, we certainly showed them, didn't we?" he said.
"Serves them right for interrupting the only time we've had together in days," said Sanaki.
"Got that right," Ike laughed. "Now, where were we?"
We were lovers in a dangerous time
Ike kissed Sanaki again. Suddenly, they heard someone calling.
"Not again," said Ike as they parted.
Boyd, Titania, Sigrun, Tainith, Sothe, and Mia ran up the hill, stopping in front of Ike and Sanaki.
"We missed the fight," remarked Sothe. "Well done, fighting them all off, if there were as many as Micaiah saw."
"You two were kissing," Mia remarked.
We were lovers in a dangerous time
"They were?" Boyd said. He looked at Ike and Sanaki, whose hands were still joined. "HAH! I knew there was something going on between you two! Now Kieran owes me that axe he found!"
"Boyd!" scolded Titania, but she was smiling herself.
Sigrun laughed. "How was I so oblivious as to not see this coming?" she said.
Even Tainith smiled slightly. "Think of how the senate would have reacted to that," she said.
"Have I ever thought of how the senate would react? To anything?" Sanaki laughed. "Who cares what the rich morons think anyway?"
"That's probably why the people loved you so much," Tainith laughed.
Lovers, Lovers, Lovers,
Ike and Sanaki sat in the forest by the camp, leaning against each other. The others had woken up just in time to see the raiding party run, and Ike and Sanaki had been told to relax for the day. Ike smiled and placed his hand on top of Sanaki's. She looked up and smiled at him. Now they had all the time together they could want.
Lovers in a dangerous time.