All Too Visible

By OracleVortex

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Disclaimer: I don't own Sheik…or anything else.

(Throws confetti in the air) Early merry Christmas, everyone! Here's my Zelda fic for the holidays! Beware of fluff! The pairing is…different, I guess.

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Anju breathed in the sharp winter air, enjoying the way that the icy chill filled her and then gave away to the heat of her body. It had snowed the night before, and she was watching the frost melt as the sun rose.

Anju didn't see him until she was a few feet away, almost bumping into him. He stood silently, motionless as he examined the lightening sky above. Even though it was cold, and the breeze had an icy tinge to it, he wore no coat, choosing to proudly bear the uniform of the Sheikah, a race that had been slaughtered mere years before.

"Good morning Sheik." Anju said. The young man made no reply, but the way that he shifted his head made her know that he heard her. Knowing the young man all too well, she knew that he had probably sensed her presence from even before she was in sight. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Snow has a delicate beauty." Sheik said, softly running his hand along a covered railing. "As a whole, it is considered a nuisance, but when we take the time to examine each speck…" He lifted his hand closer to his eyes. "…We see that it is not a lump of shapeless dots, but a collection of individual, unique patterns newly created for the short time that they would exist in the world." He turned to look at Anju, his crimson eyes strangely sad. "Then they melt away and are never seen again."

Anju smiled encouragingly at him, knowing that, on some level, he was making a reference to the Sheikah, his people. It had been a devastating time for Sheik, being one of the two survivors of the battle that was waged at Castle Town. He had seen his friends, allies, colleagues and family die…melting away and never being seen again. "I'm sorry, Sheik." She was. She had known a lot of them too.

He shook his head. "There was nothing that I could do." The words were hollow, like a repeated mantra that he really didn't believe in. "Nothing…" Glancing back at Anju, he grinned suddenly, flicking snowy fingers in her face. She yelped as the wet drops hit her cheeks, and immediately retaliated with a frosty battalion of her own.

"You come back here!" The boy had bounded away, laughing lightly, his feet leaving no imprint on the ground. Anju followed him, smile creeping on her face, as she knew she was walking into his trap. She wandered in between the houses, searching for a glimpse of the boy. All she heard was her footsteps crunching in the snow, but there was something off about it. The silence was slightly…dangerous. Why, she didn't know.

"Wait! Watch out!" Letting out a scream, Anju was suddenly knocked aside by Sheik's form. They tumbled in the slush, rolling under the cover of a row of crates. Pushing her low, and against the wall, Sheik's eyes narrowed as he leaned over her protectively.

Anju gasped. "Din's Fire, Sheik – you're hurt!"

~

Sheik growled as he felt the arrow sticking out of him, and pulled in one sharp motion, breaking the shaft in two as it came out.  Wincing in pain, and he tossed the pieces away, sinking back against the rock face for a moment. A thin trickle of blood seeped from the wound, but Sheik had no time to apply a bandage.

By the Eye, he called out silently; Who was that?

He turned to look at Anju for a moment. "Stay here; stay down. Don't come out until I say to." Capturing her emerald eyes with his own for a moment, he made sure that she would do as he asked. "I'll be right back." He slinked out from behind the crates, darting to the next house, being sure to keep his eyes peeled. He had seen someone on the rooftops with a bow. Who would it be?

Another arrow rang out into the morning air, shattering against the stones where Sheik had been only a moment before. He had heard the twang of the bow, moments earlier, and managed to move before it struck him. Following the direction of the sound and the angle of the shot, Sheik shinnied up a drainpipe, slowly peeking up onto the roof. Where was the archer?

"Behind you!" A desperate warning, in a voice that he was certain was Anju's, rang out in the square. Sheik pulled onto the rooftop, rolling forward. Another arrow hit the shingles behind him, followed by two more. Spinning, he could hear his attacker's footsteps as they moved, trying to keep the advantage of surprise.

Sheik was a trained and experienced fighter of the Sheikah; he had his bearings, and could now sense the enemy. Hands out in front of him, as he followed the person, senses fully aware, and fully attuned to the chase. An arrow flew out from behind a nearby chimney, and Sheik quickly snagged the artillery out of the air. Tossing it aside, he jumped from one roof to the other, turning a perfect, soundless flip over the chimney. He landed behind his attacker.

"Don't move a muscle." He warned lowly, pressing the cloaked body against the brick of the smokestack. Slender fingers rested on a pulsing pressure point in their neck. "Why are you trying to kill me?"

"You should've died a long time ago, Sheikah." A reply was snarled back. "It's a pity that we missed killing you then." Roughly knocking Sheik's hand aside, they slid away, glancing back as their hood fell. It was a woman. A Gerudo woman.

"Ganon." Sheik said, abruptly knowing that she was one of his spies.

She grinned evilly, jumping off of the rooftop onto the ground below. Sheik followed after her, but when he reached the edge, she was nowhere in sight. He couldn't feel her presence anymore either. "Damn it."

Sheik gasped, suddenly light-headed. Without a battle to focus his attention on, the pain of his injury was alive and burning. His eyesight was beginning to blur; perhaps the wound was worse than he had thought. Each breath he took became harder to draw, and he could feel the air passing through his lungs. He fell off of the house, landing hard on hands and feet, below.

The light pressure of a hand on his shoulder startled him. How had someone approached him without his notice? His head was tilted upward and he blinked owlishly at his intruder. "Anju?"

Indeed. The young redhead had come out of her hiding place, even without his say so. Her bright blue eyes gazed worriedly at him, all too apparent in her concern for him. "Sheik? Who was it?"

"Gerudo." He grunted, hand drifting to his chest. Anju did the same, fingers coming away touched with red.

"Din's Fire, Sheik! You need medical help!" The woman quickly bent and tore off a piece of her underskirt. She folded it and applied it to the injury. "Hold this here."

Sheik struggled to stand as Anju dipped under his opposite arm. He leaned heavily on her, wheezing with the effort it took. "Ah! Shadows be cursed!" A vein of blazing agony went through him, and he lost what strength was in his legs. He collapsed into Anju, gasping. The young woman staggered under his weight, but started determinedly down the alley to the healer's. It wasn't far away; Sheik would make it.

Anju gave a small yelp as Sheik went limp. His head flopped to one side and she saw that he had gone unconscious.

"Curse it all!" Anju cried.

~*~*~*~

Sheik was silent as Anju patiently swathed his wound with a hot towel. The water seeped into the opening, and burned him as much as it healed him. There would be no medicines applied; they did no good to a Sheikah. In given the ability to heal others, he could not heal himself, or be healed by medicines. He had to rely on his own immune system.

He could tell that this was of some concern to Anju, apparent from the lines of worry creased in her forehead. Sheik had the sudden urge to smooth them out; she looked so sad like that.

"Are you feeling any better?" She asked, red hair falling into her eyes.

This time Sheik did reach up to brush the offending locks away. Gently tucking them behind her left ear, he replied in what was little more than a whisper. "Yes. Thank you."

Anju blushed, glancing to the side for a moment. Stopping in the bathing of Sheik's injury, her fingers lingered on his bare skin. Muscle shifted under her slight touch, and Sheik shivered. As hot as the towel and water was, her touch was even more so. If you could touch the sun and live, that was what it would feel like.

He rested a hand over hers, gently tracing the slender digits from knuckle to fingertip and back again. Their eyes met, and bright aquamarine opened before him. Suddenly lost in a sea of feeling and joy, Sheik gasped, pulling back. He had been trained to stare into the gullet of shadows and darkness, and he had done so. There was nothing that you could do to train for the full glory of love.

Anju, misinterpreting his recoil, moved away, hurt in her expression. Sheik shook his head, sitting up sharply. A deep pang resonated in his chest, and he hissed. Anju turned back quickly, concern present once more.

"Don't sit up just yet." She said soothingly. One hand pressed his shoulder, while the other held his arm, lowering him backwards. Sheik snagged Anju's arms as he leaned back, bringing her with him. "What—"

"Shh." Sheik whispered, staring into her face. He tilted his head slightly and kissed her with all the softness of a wispy cloud. When looked at her again, she was gazing at him with half-lidded eyes. For good measure, and to fully get his point across, he kissed her again, this time as tender as a ray of sunshine.

"Sheik…" She sighed into his mouth.

He smiled. "Anju…"

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Yeah…a little Christman ficcy for all you Sheik lovers (like me!) out there! I, for some reason, cannot write a fluffy story unless the guy ends up in the hospital bed. Weird, hey? Oh well…this was longer than I expected. I think that there was too much chasing and not enough lovin'. Lol.

Hee-hee… Just a little break from the other stuff. ;) Merry Christmas everyone, and happy holidays!

OracleVortex

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