Teen Exploits

This story begins several years after Ganon was defeated and Link was sent back to the past so that he could have a childhood and blah blah blah. The Deku tree is still dead, though. A Deku sprout has been growing, but it still doesn't have enough power to prevent the Kokiri from aging. The Kokiri, the "children" of the forest, now the "teenagers" of the forest, had aged right along with Link. Things change when people stop being kids and start becoming adults, though they're all only around sixteen. Hormones raging, the Kokiri didn't know what these strange feelings overcoming them meant. Not having gone through this process before, this was understandable. Link explained to the Kokiri what he knew from the outside world about people and the dating rituals that he had observed. After learning all of this, almost all of the Kokiri felt the need to pair up with one of the opposite sex. So, this year, Mido decided to start a tradition. Every summer, starting this year, all the Kokiri would participate in the festival of pairs. All the Kokiri would go through the Lost Woods, to the Forest Temple, which, thanks to a certain Hylian boy, is not haunted anymore, and have a party of sorts. It's similar to a camping trip, only it's indoors. On this outing, the guys court the girls, and the successful ones pair up and are hopefully, somewhat monogamous, for at least a week. The Kokiri still no nothing of love. All they know is that people pair up and act certain ways toward the person they pair up with. That and what their natural instincts had led them to know. Link knew about love. Zelda and Malon taught him what they believed love was, much like a fairytale. He withheld this information from the Kokiri for certain reasons. One of them being that the Kokiri were already coming to terms with enough, including their own mortality. Let them have their fun. Though, not all the Kokiri participated in the pairings. Link didn't feel any certain affection towards any of the Kokiri. Not that he wasn't physically attracted to any of them. Most of the Kokiri girls were quite pretty. Link just didn't feel any connection with them. He wanted to pair himself up with a certain ocarina playing, Hylian princess or a particular red-haired, ranch girl. It wasn't just the outcast who neglected the festival, but also the girl who really didn't care about the whole affair, namely Saria. She thought the whole concept was ridiculous. She questioned the purpose of choosing a person to be around more, merely because they had been told that outsiders did it. Still, both Link and Saria would go along with everybody to the Forest Temple. Saria, knowing the way there the best, would lead everybody to the mansion Forest Temple. Link would go along with Saria, to keep her company, and to ward off the slobbering male Kokiri. Here, on the day that the festival of pairs would begin, is where we actually start the story…

It was the middle of the summer, and a young boy, about sixteen years old, was lounging up on the hill in front of the Kokiri training grounds. He wore a green, sleeveless tunic, with a belt, and he had white pants that went down his legs and into his near knee high boots. He wasn't quite as tall as the other Kokiri boys and had medium length, blonde hair and blue eyes. His nose was somewhat long and pointed, as were his ears. He wasn't scrawny, nor was he particularly buff. He had the build of a hero; after all, that's what he was. He had been the hero of time six years in the past and one year in the future. He was sixteen now, but, when he was ten, he was called upon to be the hero of time. Upon the request of a princess, he gathered the three Spiritual Stones, and used the princess's own ocarina to gain passageway to the Master Sword. When he took hold of the sword he was transported to the Chamber of Sages in the Sacred Realm and put into a deep sleep for seven years. He awoke on the seventh year to find that Ganondorf had gone into the Sacred Realm, which had been previously sealed by the presence of the Master Sword, and gained access to the wish-granting Triforce, using it to take over Hyrule. Rauru, the Sage of Light, gave Link instructions on defeating Ganondorf, and Link set out on his adventure. After defeating Ganondorf, and Ganondorf's maligned form, the monstrous Ganon, Link was sent back seven years, by the princess Zelda, so that he could live out his childhood. Now that Link is sixteen, he is almost as old as he was when defeating the evil sorcerer, Ganondorf; but, at the moment, Link was merely waiting on a hilltop for his best friend. Spotting her at the bottom of the hill, Link thought to himself. Here comes Saria, no doubt with news of the festival.

Saria wasn't sixteen. She was closer to fifty, though her body had only aged around sixteen years. Being a true Kokiri, Saria hadn't physically aged past ten, until the Great Deku Tree died. The Deku Tree was the secret of the Kokiris' immortality. The reason that all the Kokiri were to not go outside of the forest, was that the Deku Tree's magic didn't extend outside of it, and, as a result, the Kokiri that would wander away would lose their youthfulness. They would grow old and die, just like the rest of the races do. As you might imagine, the Kokiri were fairly upset at the prospect of dying one day. Mido had nearly convinced the others that Link was to blame, and that he should be banished from the forest, but Saria stepped in and told them all otherwise. The reason he wanted Link out of the forest was because he was jealous of Link's relationship with the emerald-haired girl. If he was responsible for booting Link out of the forest, he knew that Saria would never forgive him, and likely leave the forest after Link. Mido would have to incriminate Link somehow, if he were to get Saria to like him…

Saria was a pretty girl, with green hair and deep blue eyes. She wore a tunic, similar to Link's, though, much more feminine. Like Link's tunic, it was sleeveless, and had a belt around the waist. However, her tunic was slightly shorter. Normally, Saria wore a sleeveless shirt, with a turtleneck sweater beneath it. She would also wear shorts. The weather, unfortunately, was too hot out to dress that way. She wore green boots that went up right below her knees. She didn't dress immodestly; then again, her knowledge of modesty, as well as the other Kokiris', was taught to them by a tree, and a tree's extent of knowledge on the subject of modesty is not vast, to say the least. The Kokiri simply dressed for comfort. Saria had known Link all his life; meaning, she had known Link since Link was an infant.

Link had been waiting for Saria for a while, and they had agreed to meet up at the training grounds to talk about events happening in the forest. Saria bounded up the hill, her fairy, Farin, flying behind her. Once she had gotten herself up the hill, Link and Saria greeted each other nonchalantly.

"Are you coming to the festival, Link?"

"I dunno," Link shuffled his feet uncomfortably. "I was thinking that I would get out of the forest and visit the princess."

Saria knew who the princess was, and how much Link enjoyed spending time with her. She occasionally found herself jealous of this princess that was stealing away her best friend. "Please? You know what'll happen if you don't go." Saria pleaded with Link "You have to come. For me?"

"Well," said Link, thinking quickly. "You could come with me. Malon wanted to join too. We could all have a picnic together." Link's eyes brightened at the prospect of being with his three favorite girls in all of Hyrule.

"Link…" Saria didn't want to join Link in a picnic with those other girls. She wanted her friend to be with her. "You know I can't go with you. I have to lead the others to the Forest Temple. They don't know the way."

"That's too bad." Link sympathized. "They both were looking forward to meeting you. "

Saria looked at Link with the most pathetic expression she could muster, mouthing the word "please."

I can't…resist…those big blue eyes. "Alright, I'll go with you, but only because you need me to fend off the slobbering, Kokiri boys."

"Thank you thank you thank you. I can't stand them sometimes. Especially the ones that don't look me in the eyes."

"Why wouldn't they look you in the eyes?" Link can be compared rather accurately to a candied deku seed. He's very sweet, but his head can be incredibly thick and tough to stuff new concepts into.

"They look somewhat lower, if you know what I mean." Saria looked down at the subject of discussion to make it clearer.

"Oh." Duh, how could I not know what she means? Even I sometimes find myself accidentally looking at them. She caught me doing it once and I got so embarrassed and couldn't stop apologizing. The thing is that I don't think that she was upset with me. She seemed more flattered. That blush, the smile. I still don't get why she didn't yell at me or something. I don't think that she really minds the occasional glance, so long as you aren't just ogling at her. "Yeah, I know what you mean; but, in their defense, the Deku tree has never died before, leaving the Kokiri to age, so all this physical change is new to them. I mean, some of them are even fifty-something, and now they're maturing physically. Of course they're going to turn into slobbering dogs around girls, that's what teenage guys do. I was one once before, you know. And, further in their defense, they are incredibly hard to resist looking at."

"Link..." Saria blushed furiously and smiled at Link.

"What? They are. I do understand that they shouldn't stare at, though. It's rude."

"I didn't expect you to say something like that."

"I felt it needed to be said sometime." Link grinned and scratched his head.

"Oh did you now? You make it seem like you've been dwelling on the subject for quite a while." Saria raised an eyebrow at Link.

Good job Link. She's gonna think you're a pervert. "Iiiii'd better get ready for the festival, since I'm accompanying you and all."

"I'm already packed, so I'll come with you." Saria said, going along with Link's excuse, surprising and confusing Link to no end.

"Umm, alright." Sighing heavily out of relief, Link decided that he'd have to choose his words more carefully from now on. "Oh, before I forget, I'll need to let the princess and Malon know I won't be able to visit them."

"Well, I guess I could send Farin, to give them the message." Saria offered, although, inwardly, she was disappointed that Link was still thinking about those girls.

"That would be great," Link hugged Saria. "I really appreciate it."

Saria sighed. "Yes, I know."

Link informed Farin the way to get to the castle and Malon's ranch and gave instructions on what to tell the two girls. Farin rushed off to go deliver the important message, a mischievous glint in her eye…