Chapter no. : 25
Chapter title: Now Is Not The- Oh, All Right...
Story rating: T (for now)
BETAed: Very Excellent Now-Knowing Seal (of approval) from Venks
Disclaimer: Me no own Zelda. I mean, come on - how stupid are you? If I did own Zelda , it would contain much swearing, blood, sex and rock'n'roll. And Yaoi. Don't forget the luffly yaoi. But since I don't own it, I have to settle for entertaining you guys with my stories and OCs - which is fine by me.
Warnings: Not any at the moment. Apart from that this is a shounen ai/yaoi story and contains spoilers from TP.
Thanks for the reviews...
JtheChosen1
Ryukai-MJ
BlackLadyCharon
Devilish Child AKA Raven
Lil' Miss Spookiness
JesusWillSave
Notes: Oh.Em.Gee. Sooooo excited-ed-ed. BlackLadyCharon wrote me a giftfic, and it was lush. I officially suggest you guys go read (and review) it cos it will make you think... something I normally don't say, but thinking about Link and Sheik is very healthy, if ya gets me drift XD Another reason is because (and you will get excited about this too) I'm slowly (very slowly) writing a side-fic to Shadow; with kid-Sheik, who is utmost ador-wable in my mind. Wow, I'm creating a Shadow-verse! I never thought I'd be the creater of a Universe! 0.o wowzas-trowzas, Gromit! Cheese! Plus, I'm just in a strangely good mood (probably the anticipation of double-Photography class tomorrow) so just enjoy whilst it lasts.
Added Note: It may also be to do with the fact that this story has 189 reviews! -le gasp- I love you guys. But I really need to get on... 25 chapters? Well, my Beyblade story was 60 chaps... ah well, you probably won't mind a long LS story, ne ne?
Totally irrelevant quote of the update - or is it?:
Fighting with the Great Hero is temperamental - ten per-cent temper, ninety per-cent mental.

"I'm not even going to ask why you're annoyed…" I muttered, looking away boredly as Hero glared hotly at the hissing snake. "But if you're that irate, kill it."

"Oh, I will," he muttered. "I just want to get out of this place. I'm frying like I've never fried before. And believe me, I've fried. I'm wishing with every cell in my body I was with Yeto and Yeta right now…"

"Then kill it already," I replied, earning a 'no-duh' look from Hero. "Have fun."

But the snake acted first, lashing out at us with its pronged tail. Fortunately for us, we were quick with our reflexes and leapt out the way in time; the golden spikes gouged a long trench where we were stood moments ago, however, which filled with lava slowly but surely.

For a second time, the snake lunged with its tail at Hero and once again created a hole that filled with boiling magma. The ditch this time was much bigger than the first and cracks appeared around it, hinting at an unstable surface.

"The ground must not be that thick!" I called over the din of the angry serpent and bubbling lava. "We must dispatch it before we run out of solid flooring!"

The atmosphere had gone from amusing to tense in less than a minute – not that I minded. But I didn't like the fight. The serpent's hide was much too thick (unlike the ground, which was disappearing at an alarming rate) and even the Master Sword could not create a scratch. And since we had only a certain amount of time, we needed to figure out how to at least injure the snake.

I stood by the edge of the arena, watching Hero battle with the monster without success. He tried everything: his arrows, his bombs, his clawshots, using his shield, his boomerang, his ball and chain – even his spinner didn't do a thing. And that's when I remembered something Hero had most likely forgotten.

That strange weapon he had received after beating Dodongo – the oversized hammer. If it could break through volcanic rock that even Dodongo couldn't destroy, then maybe it could harm the snake.

Judging by the way the serpent's head and neck was protected by the armour, his weak spot had to be somewhere under there. If he used the hammer to break the gold shield then maybe Hero could defeat it…

"Sheik…!" Came Hero's warning shout. "A little help here!"

"The hammer!" I called back. "Use the hammer to break through its helmet!"

He back-flipped away from the snake and, in what looked like a single swift movement, sheathed his sword and brought out the plain weapon, swinging it straight at the lunging monster. There was a huge clanging sound as metal met metal, followed by a cracking echo. The serpent recoiled, hiding its head under its long belly. Hero kept stepping back, 'til he was stood beside me.

He glanced at me. "Nice thinking," he murmured.

"You're the one who brought the idea about," I replied. "You tried every weapon in your artillery, apart from the newest addition. You could have thought of that."

He shrugged. "Well, I didn't." He then did the unexpected and leaned over, placing a swift kiss just below the corner of my eye, on top of my cheek, before making his way back over to the recovering snake. "Keep up the good thinking!"

I stayed frozen, eyes wide and staring after him. He was treating me like the damsel in distress again. He wanted me to stay on the sidelines and do all the thinking, letting him deal with the fighting and danger. Yes, he was a hero and it was a second nature for him to protect others, but… I was not a damsel! He would pay for treating me like a woman.

Flicking my throwing knives into their slots between my fingers, I darted forward, streaking past Hero and leaping into the air. I let a few daggers fly before I landed right on top of the golden head, using it to change direction and jump to the side, onto the ground and away.

The shriek that followed my actions gave me the answer I wanted – my weapons had hit intended target. The sharp blades had sunk right into the pupil-less, glowing-red eyes of the snake, spurting black blood everywhere, even onto Hero. Hopefully, the serpent was now blind.

"Hey!" Hero shouted, as he backed away quickly from the thrashing snake. "Watch it! This blood could have been acid or something!"

My eyebrow twitched. "Well then, don't treat me like a damsel in distress."

"I… wha-?"

He was cut off by another piercing shriek from the injured serpent, along with the fact that its head slammed to the ground in between us with a heavy crash that made large, glowing cracks appear and surround it.

Hero cried out in a mixture of shock and glee, swinging the hammer around and smashing it into the snake's helmet, right between the blinded eyes. That awoke the beast from its pained stupor and it reared, hissing in both fury and hurt. Its slitted nostrils flared and it looked straight at us – though I had robbed it of one scent, he still had others; like smell, which it was going to use from then on, it seemed.

I voiced my theories to Hero, who nodded. He was now in 'Great-Hero-mode'; his brow was furrowed and blue eyes beast-like, his posture and body tense, ready to leap at his prey – gone was the childish nature that I…

The snake obviously realised its mistakes and decided not to make them again, and so altered its strategy (if it had one). Using its lower body as leverage, it launched itself into the air and into the shadows of the ceiling, disappearing from view entirely.

"Great…" Hero murmured, his voice echoing eerily throughout the cavern, which had grown mysteriously quiet ever since the monster vanished. He replaced his hammer with his bomb arrows, aiming at the darkness a little distance away. "Watch my back, Sheik. Just in case."

"What do you think I was going to do?" I asked dryly. "Stand and admire the scenery?"

"Something like that, yeah…" he replied with a grin, before letting the arrow fly.

It met contact with rock and exploded, sending rubble and light everywhere. That's when we spotted the belly of the snake winding through holes in the ceiling. The arrow had missed, but it aided us in knowing how it was staying out of sight.

"Any ideas?"

Midna appeared beside us, shadowy in form. "Why not aim some more explosives at the ceiling? That's its flooring, so take it away from the equation!"

Hero nodded and, as Midna disappeared, strung another arrow and let it fly at the place we had seen the serpent's belly. Once again, light exploded and rocks fell, but there was also a warning hiss from the monster up above.

"This is going to take ages!" Hero complained. "And I only have twenty bomb arrows left, and then I won't have any arrows and only seven bombs and nine bomblings…"

I regarded him warily. "It's scary you know the exact number of weapons you have stored in the god-knows-how-many pouches you have."

"Even I don't know how many pouches I have. Lost count when I got the tenth."

"…But yes, Hero, this will take a long time – if you don't be quiet, so get on with it."

It seemed like things were happening on cue these days, as just at that point in time, something large and red crashed through the rocky covering, bringing a shrieking snake with it. When the dust settled, I realised the large, red thing was Valoo, Raisa's little dragon… which had grown, obviously. The snake raised its golden head and hissed irately at the dragon, which merely growled back, fire streaming from its mouth in a warning.

Hero took his chance and rushed forward, whipping out his hammer once again and slamming it straight at the helmeted head. Finally, the golden armour broke off, baring greying scales to the hot, volcanic air. Throwing the hammer to one side, he unsheathed his sword and plunged it straight into the serpent's head, right into its brain.

If Valoo hadn't have been sat on the snake's body, the monster would have thrashed 'til it stilled in death. Instead, its head rolled, trying to buck Hero off; it hadn't realised it was supposed to be dead. But its body did, as it caught fire, forcing Valoo and Hero to move away lest they were burnt.

The resulting explosion as the snake ignited blasted us back. Hero landed first, on his back, and I followed, landing sprawled across his stomach, horizontal to him. The cave shook for a few moments, the sounds of rocks falling on the ground and in the lava filling what would have been silence.

For half a minute or so we lay there, calming our bodies from the adrenaline rush we had experienced from fighting the Ruby-powered serpent. I could feel Hero's thudding heart beat slowly decelerate, along with mine, which slowed much faster than his.

He reached towards me and patted me tiredly on the arm, which was resting on his shoulder. "You need more practise in boss-beating… consider this hero-training," he muttered.

I couldn't help it. A chuckle escaped the confines of my throat, before I erupted in a full-flown bout of laughter, caused by the large amounts of adrenaline in my body that made it buzz. My eyes clenched shut reflexively and my body near-curled as I fought down the mirth and hilarity of the situation. Hero joined in the amusement shortly after I involuntarily started, his chuckles rumbling through his chest to into mine; it was a pleasant sensation.

"What was that about?" Midna asked, appearing and hovering above us. "You looked like two giggling school-girls!"

I sighed, a silly smile still present on my lips, even though I tried to suppress it. "Hero told me I need training."

"Ha!" she crowed, holding her sides as she giggled a little. "Sheik needs training? You handled it worse than him! You both need training! You need to work as a team next time!"

Hero wasn't listening to the Twilight Princess, his attention solely on me. My turban had come undone, trailing along the floor above my head, and my cowl dipped down, sticking just below my nose because of sweat. Hero's aqua orbs were set on my face, his gaze locked with mine, a small smile curling his lips like mine.

"What?" I asked.

"You're cute when you smile."

The amusement faded from my expression, settling on annoyance. "I told you – I don't do cute."

He shrugged, letting his head drop back to stare at the ceiling. "You should still smile more. Okay, it doesn't make you cute…" He suddenly sat up, near-catapulting me off of him, but he grabbed me, holding me to his chest. "It makes you look radiant."

He leant down and kissed my forehead tenderly, making a blush unwillingly spread across my cheeks. Nuzzling my hair he sighed, picking out the remaining binds of my turban and any bits of rock between my silvery strands.

"Hero…" I murmured. It was nice to be held, to have his warmth and scent enveloping me (even though it was hot enough already), but… "Now… now isn't the time for hugs."

"When is there going to be a better time?" he asked, voice soft, but still holding that wolfish undertone of a growl. "We have the Ruby shard. We've got through the whole mines. Beaten the two monsters. Freed the Great Fairy. It's not as if that snake is going to-"

I shut him up the first way that came to mind. I leant up, pressing my lips to his tightly. He reacted almost instantly, pulling me even closer – if that was possible – and replying ardently to the kiss, working his mouth against mine with more enthusiasm that skill, which was saying something, as he was startlingly competent.

I didn't mean for it get to the point where his tongue swiped the crease of my lips gently. I only intended to make sure he didn't jinx the situation by fully stating that the snake was gone, but I opened willingly, biting back the throaty groan when the slippery muscle slid inside my mouth. A tingling sensation bloomed in my body, not unlike when Raka overpoweringly kissed me, but it didn't start in the pit of my stomach. Instead, it struck my chest, leaving me breathless.

A sudden thought hit me along with the sensation. Here I was, sat in the lair of a dead monster, curled in the Great Hero's arms with his tongue nearly down my throat. It was amusing in the ways that, one: I had always felt that exchanging saliva, even with a female, wasn't exactly an appealing thing, and two…

Two was that it was me who the Great Hero was kissing, who was pouring his love into his actions a hundred per-cent and who risked his life to stop any (more) injury from befalling me.

Me – a lowly Sheikah, not even officially titled a warrior. Not royalty, not nobleman, not even villager. I belonged nowhere and I was lowest of the low; but he loved me regardless…

We pulled away slowly, gazes flicking to each other. His sapphire orbs were slightly glazed, blinking slowly every so often; he was obviously extremely surprised at my actions – so was I, actually…

"What was that for?"

"You were going to jinx the snake's death. Last time you said there wasn't a monster, if appeared – I'm not fighting that thing again."

I wriggled out of his embrace and stood, brushing dirt from my tabard and suit, tugging up my cowl and frowning at the long silver locks that cascaded over my shoulder; I would fuss about redoing my turban when we got back to the accommodation we were staying in – whether that was in the Village or with the Gerudo… preferably the Gerudo.

"I like your hair down," Hero murmured, standing up behind me and running the backs of his fingers down the gentle waves. "Why don't you keep it out of that turban?"

"Yes, because I'd let my hair flow around when trying to concentrate on surviving," I bit back.

"Smells nice…" He was obviously ignoring my statement. Bringing his face closer to my scalp, he inhaled a deep breath, sliding gauntleted hands around my middle.

"Hero, wh…" A shiver cruised my spine. "Now… isn't the time…"

"You said that before and then a minute later, you were kissing me like no other," he pointed out. "Just let me have this moment, Sheik. We probably won't get a time to relax any time soon… to be near each other like this. Besides… you don't just kiss someone senseless then expect to not get affection back."

I let him have his 'moment', slackening in his grip and closing my eyes. I could feel the happiness rolling off of him as if it were a physical warmth. It was… nice. To just stand there and be held. Not just hugged quickly, or groped indecently – just held, with hidden affection…

When I rested my head against his cheek, he chuckled; it was a deep, sultry sound and I realised I liked it… like the holding, it was nice…

"Never held anyone like this before," he murmured into my temple, lips moving against my skin.

"Lucky me…" I mumbled back; even I couldn't tell if I was being sarcastic or truthful – my mind was that hazy.

"Hey!" came a yell, as Midna zoomed up from Hero's shadow. "Now's not the time for affectionate 'love you's! Get that shard and get to Din's temple! Before we grow old…er."

Hero muttered something inaudible under his breath and slowly (and very reluctantly) let go of me. My skin was still warm from where his arms had been, my scalp still tingling from his breath. Was it normal for someone to be so worked up because of another's simple actions?

With the question still in mind, I moved over to the smouldering carcass of the snake, my crimson gaze scanning over the corpse, looking for the returning fiery glare of the Shard. Valoo, who had now shrunk to his pocket-size, hovered over to me, his undersized wings flapping furiously as he bobbed up and down in the air; he finally settled on my shoulder - unlike Saria's fairy, I didn't mind the small dragon using my shoulder to rest on, as it was a part of Raisa, rather than a spiteful and revengeful sprite.

Hero wandered over to me and, using his sword to move the ashy bones out the way, helped me search.

"At least we don't have to cut it open," he commented.

I agreed with him, but only silently. Then, I saw it. Near the middle of the remains, glinting from underneath a charcoaled piece of flesh (which I only assumed was its exploded stomach) and pulsing with fiery energy.

As I bent down to pick it up, the light began to alternate between fading and glowing, as if it were unsure about me. Or was it Valoo? Raisa created him, making him a part of the little Gerudo, and Din had mentioned her being 'the key' to the Ruby…

"Are we all done here?" I heard Midna ask from behind me. "I don't trust this floor."

As if to emphasise her words, there was a loud groaning crack that echoed around the cavern. I turned around to look at Hero and the Twilight Princess, and nodded, the Shard clutched tightly in my hand. In a great plume of fire, cast by Valoo, we were gone from the snake's lair.

Demi: Review, you whores! -says the closet snuggle-whore- I will give you cookies and wee-Sheik goodness... -waggles eyebrows suggestively- ... Peedos...