The forest around them teemed with life, buzzing and screaming with the sounds of tiny animals and the bugs that lived inside plants. Grasshoppers jumped every so often, climbing into the air and skittering through it for a moment before falling back down and hiding among the grass or leaves. Bees buzzed in the air, meandering on their way from flower to flower. A bird sat perched on a tree branch, chirping ecstatically in the gentle breeze and the gentle sun. Only a corner of Link's mind actually paid attention to these things, and thus he easily missed out on dozens upon dozens of other examples. Another corner of his was focused on walking, leading the pair of them along the right path and to the Kokiri village. The rest of his consciousness was entirely centered on watching Malon from the corner of his eye.
Saria was crouched behind one of the wooden huts when Link appeared beside her. "What's going on?" he asked, grinning. Saria nearly jumped out of her skin, and she just managed to get by without making a sound. "We're playing hide-and-go-seek, do you and, uh…" she trailed off looking at the other girl. "Malon," Link supplied. "Oh, do you and Malon want to play?" Link looked to Malon who nodded. "Sounds cool," Link said, "How long until this game's over?" Saria shrugged. Suddenly Mido burst around the corner and shouted, "Hey! Haha! I found you! Games over! Oh hi Link," he finished, walking away before even noticing Malon. "I guess it's over now," Saria said with a laugh, "Let's go start the next game." The three of them left the cover of the hut and ran after Mido. They converged in a huddle with the rest of the children. There was a lot of talking among them, and laughing too. Then suddenly a few of them were arguing about who would be IT next. Finally Saria just offered to do it. With that taken care of, they all ran off in different directions. "One… two… three…" Saria began.
"Seventeen… eighteen… nineteen…" Saria said, her voice quiet in the distance. Malon still managed to hear it through the trees, though, and it was a cause of great stress for the little girl. "Twenty!" she announced, "Ready or not, here I come!" Malon ran through the trees, on the verge of panic. She didn't know her way around the forest, and she didn't know her way around the village. Where was she going to hide? She had to find a place. Somewhere off to her left she saw someone moving, shifting a little in their hiding spot then becoming still once more. Malon moaned as she ran, heading farther out among the trees in hope of finding a good spot. She didn't want to get caught. She did not want to get caught! Malon kept running, heading in the opposite direction of any sound she heard. She needed to find a place to hide and she needed to find it soon, but all of these trees looked the same and none of them offered a place to hide. Unless she could somehow climb one of them… but no. Link was good at that type of thing, but not her. And she was wearing a dress too. "Ugh," Malon moaned, her frustration building. What was she going to do!?
I hope you're still liking this. This installment is going to be six chapters long so we're 1/3 of the way through. I'm going to be doing two updates per week on this story, posting saturday and tuesday nights. If I can keep that up this'll all be taking place in the next couple of weeks so hold on and don't forget to read/review.