A/N: Next update! Took me awhile didn't it? Still here it is.
Disclaimer: I don't own OoT. If I did the whole thing about Zelda and Sheik being the same person would never have come up.
Unfurling (LxS)
The Forest Temple lies in the middle of the Lost Woods protected by many layers. The Kokiri and Skull children are the first layer, their strangeness and hostility towards most strangers protecting them and keeping most people out. The second layer is the Lost Woods itself. It is a twisting maze that doubles back in on itself and only to those who can navigate its pathways does it reveal the secret of how to travel across the realm in moments. The final external protection is the Sacred Forest Meadow and the twisting maze within, with its' nasty surprises and dead ends all around.
Since the Temple and the deep evil it contained, were first sealed no one has ever penetrated all over these defenses. Even the Dark King had been unable to come to the Temple proper but had been forced to weaken the protections and then use the cursed portraits within the Temple to spread his influence throughout. Saria, the current Forest Sage doesn't count of course, after-all in a very elemental way she is a part of the Temple. Neither did the hero, is his destiny to travel to all parts of Hyrule even those that have been forgotten or rumored to be only myths and legends.
Sheik knows all of this as he rests silent in the great branches of the tree that forms a part of the exterior. He had studied the writings on all six of the temples in his preparations. Still, the scrolls hadn't spoken of or conveyed the feeling that he felt imbued in the area even with Ganondorf's dark, clinging presence. The area felt full, of potential and purpose and just the promise of new beginnings. Not a surprise, this is the first Temple, the one that will mark the transition of the boy to the hero. Sheik finds with some surprise that the idea of the boy he had seen in the Temple of Light becoming something else makes his heart ache. He has no time to examine that thought, as the hero runs into the clearing slowing as he takes in the enemy-less area. Sheik feels a pang of worry at the fine cut across the hero's elegant profile leaking blood. His worry is relaxed as the blond pulls out a red potion and downs it. The wound is gone as if it had never existed and the blood is also soon gone, smeared carelessly on his sleeve.
Sheik doesn't allow the rush of affection, of anxiety that swamps him at the innocence of the gesture to paralyze him, instead quickly jumping down. The others' shock at his sudden appearance makes him smile behind his mask, but he quickly gets to the point of why they both are here, before the other can say anything. They are in the heart of one of the Sages' power after all and even if there is something about the feel of the Temple, something about how the dry words that he memorized of friendship and time take on a new meaning as he says them- that whispers in his mind, that the Kokiri girl more than the other Sages, is most likely to smile upon what's slowly growing between them, now is still not the time for exploring it. Rauru is the Sage of Light, and light is everywhere and sees everything and its Sage definitely wouldn't approve. Instead he teaches the Hero the Minuet of the Forest and reflects as Link plays it back and then they play together that the song is fitting for more than one reason.
The first time he read the music and played the song through he had thought the elegant song was misplaced as the song of the forest. But hearing it played in the place it is meant to represent he sees it is right, the serenity and hope in the song matches the calm promise of the glade. Deep in mind he realizes as the last notes fade and die into the sound of the leaves that the song is fitting in another way. It was written in a style meant for two people to dance delicately in small steps, like the ones Sheik had carefully been guiding Link in. He speaks the other blonds' name, caressing it with his voice before he realizes he has. When the Hero's face brightens he knows he has made a mistake and quickly takes his leave, praying that his slip of tongue has not killed his chance to experience love before it has even begun.
A/N: Short and sweet is probably not the best thing to say is it? I'll try to made the next installment longer, or is this lenght fine, either way drop me a review to let me know. Salut!