Some headcannons in this one.
Link was eight the day he met the Sasagawa siblings, it was also the same day he learned he was not as alone in Namimori as he previously believed.
Early on in school, Link's classmates had learned he didn't speak, at least not verbally. Some of the meaner kids had tried to bully him about it at first, but they had quickly given up when he didn't react to any of their barbs. They all started avoiding him after he made his displeasure known when he saw anyone besides himself being bullied, it didn't matter if they were in the same grade or not, the older and bigger the kid, the more painful the inevitable beatdown was. Link was also incredibly helpful by nature, especially to the younger kids, and was known for always having a small smile on his face. He had quirks too, quite a few of them, but he was mostly known for beating up bullies and helping people.
It was no surprise that the first thing he did when he noticed a girl his age being held captive by a group of older boys was dive in head first.
Link was small, he knew from experience that he would always be on the smaller side, but he was fast and difficult for even the most skilled individuals to hit. He was also strong, much more so than his frame should have allowed, which meant that not only could he hit faster, he could also hit stronger than the majority of people he encountered. The group of boys didn't stand a chance when Link set upon them, sprinting into the alleyway they'd chosen to group in like a fox after a rabbit.
Link leaped onto the first boy, high enough in the air to plant his feet on the older boys back and push off, sending him crashing to the ground with the wind knocked out of him. Keeping the momentum from the push off, Link twisted in the air and tucked in his legs, colliding knees first with another boy's chest and letting his full weight take him down. There was a painful wheeze from the chest underneath him and sounds of shock behind him, but the Hylian didn't wait for any of them to react. Performing a rather acrobatic backwards tumble off the boy he'd just taken down, he evaded the sound of wind whistling behind him and twisted to come up in front of the holder of what appeared to be a metal pipe. Link didn't think twice, shooting one leg up and kicking the pipe wielder in the groin. His hands came up before he finished his kick, one going into the boy's sternum while the other grabbed the pipe and twisted it out of the middle schooler's grip in a well-practiced motion.
Link, pipe in hand, turned to the remaining four boys with a determined glint in his eyes and was pleased to see the hesitation at attacking someone half their size who had just taken out three of them without so much as a by-your-leave. They were unprepared for the Hylian to suddenly dash into the middle of them and spin like a whirling dervish of pain with a lead pipe and leave three more of them moaning in pain on the ground. The last wannabe thug, the one holding the girl, seemed to have at least one braincell left when he froze as soon as Link looked at him. Link cocked his head and put on an expression he knew could make even a Red Lynel pause and the boy shoved the girl towards him with a whimper. He ran off like he was being hunted while Link caught the girl and steadied her, taking note of her features for the first time.
She was smaller than he was, coming up just past his shoulders, and Link felt like he knew her somehow. She had dark blond hair threaded through with red strands that appeared to be in a bob from the front but with a long braid down her back. When she looked up at him, he could see the beginnings of delicate features underneath the baby fat, a definite beauty in the future, with eyes an almost hypnotic gold with oddly elongated pupils. She looked familiar to him and her features were very distinctive, but he couldn't remember ever seeing her before.
The two of them stood there for what could have been an eternity, simply staring at each other, surrounded by the pained forms of the middle schoolers Link had taken down. The girl opened her mouth, the beginning of an "L" forming on her tongue, when she tensed up in time for Link to press her against him and jump to the side, lead pipe lashing out and hitting the kid who'd managed to recover and try to attack them in the arm with an audible crack. He went down with a scream, clutching his possibly broken arm, but Link couldn't find it in himself to feel bad about injuring someone who had no qualms holding a little girl hostage no matter how young they were.
Deciding not to test his luck any further, Link sent a cursory glance around the alley and over the middle schoolers before scooping the girl up in a bridal carry. She let out a startled noise but didn't protest, letting Link carry her out of the alley. He kept the pipe in hand, hiding it in the hand under the girl's knees, just in case he was attacked again and headed for the nearby park. The girl was quiet the entire way and Link bit back a laugh at the incredibly red blush on her cheeks. She really was familiar, maybe she went to his school? Or perhaps they had met when he was little and he just didn't remember, back when he was Tsuna? It was possible, but he didn't think that was the case, he would ask her at the park after he made sure she was okay.
The park was a short walk away from the alley, where Link had been headed when he stumbled across the group of middle schoolers. The streets weren't crowded, only a few people here and there, and no one spared him more than a cursory glance. All they needed to see were Link's pointed ears to dismiss whatever he was doing. The citizens of Namimori were quite used to his antics, letting the Hylian reach his destination quickly.
Finally at the park, Link made his way to a nearby tree before setting the girl on her feet. He made sure she was steady before stepping away from her, a gentle look on his face as he once more tried to figure out if he knew her. Her gaze was fixed on him, gold eyes intent, as she brought her hands up and clasped them together tightly. She almost appeared to be praying as she looked at him, an odd mix of hope and desperation on her face when she spoke, "Is it, really you? Link?"
Link's eyes widened slightly, surprised the girl knew his name, his real name. Aside from his mother, everyone still called him Tsunayoshi and he'd never bothered to correct them, it was a waste of his words to do so. Yet, somehow, this girl knew his name. He took in her features again, wracking his brain further to remember her, but he just couldn't place her.
The girl's shoulders hunched when he didn't answer, hands tightening their grip on each other, and Link felt an odd surge of panic well-up within him, "Do you not remember?" Her head tilted down slightly, looking up at him through her lashes, and Link felt his ears twitch when she continued, "You don't recognize me, do you, Link. I know I look different, but I had hoped…"
The girl pulled her hands close to her chest as her lips twisted downward and her whole form seemed to deflate, shrinking in on herself in a way that caused his breath to hitch. For a second, Link saw another girl in front of his eyes, her red and white form adorned with jewelry as he told her that he was leaving for Hyrule Castle, before it was gone. His voice was quiet and soft, but it reached her ears as easily as it always had, "Mipha."
Her whole form brightened, like watching the sun rise over the horizon as she smiled at him. There was a mess of emotions fighting for control in Link's mind, though none of them showed on his face. Gentle hands reached out for him, closing the short distance between them and cupping his cheeks as he let out a shuddering breath. He brought his own hands up to cover hers and leaned forward, not stopping until his forehead met her own and he was looking into her eyes. The two of them closed their eyes, unmoving as they familiarized themselves with each other's presence after so many years apart.
The last time he'd seen her she had already been dead, a spirit trapped inside Vah Ruta for a hundred years. Now she was here before him, alive. Link didn't know how this was possible, but he thanked Hylia and every other Goddess that might have had a hand in their reunion.
Link and Mipha would have been content to stand with each other all day, basking in their reunion, if not for the sound of someone calling out to them in an excessively loud voice, "Hey! Get away from my sister!"
Mipha sighed in resignation while Link merely opened his eyes, turning to look in the direction of the voice almost lazily. A boy perhaps a couple years older than Link was running towards them, his hair shockingly white and his eyes the same shade of gold as Mipha's. Link felt his ears twitch when the boy gave him the same sense of familiarity as Mipha had, skidding to a stop in front of them with an angry look on his face. Link heard Mipha sigh again from behind him, although he wasn't sure when he had stepped in front of her, and place her hand gently on his arm. He moved aside easily, letting her step in front of him as he kept an eye on the older boy, "It's alright, brother. Link is a, friend."
Link heard the hesitation in Mipha's voice at the word friend, although her apparent brother didn't seem to catch it, and the Hylian was reminded suddenly of the Zora Armor she had made for him and Sidon's vehement declarations of her undying love for him. He had known of her feelings before but had been too caught up in preparing for the Calamity to properly return her affections until it was too late, but there was no Calamity now. Link had expected the older boy to relax at Mipha's words, but instead he dropped into a ready stance while his eyes almost seemed to glow, "If that's the Link you told me about, then I'm extremely not just gonna hand you over to him! Fight me!"
A spectacular blush blossomed over Mipha's cheeks while Link just blinked owlishly at the boy, unsure of what was happening. Mipha hunched her shoulders and clasped her hands to her chest, trying to hide the redness that went all the way to the tips of her ears, "Daruk! What are you doing?!"
That explained why the boy was so familiar, although he seemed a bit different than Link remembered. Daruk's reaction, while surprising, was not terribly unexpected. The Goron had always been protective of the other Champions, even Revali, and had once tried to fight Urbosa's husband before she married him. It hadn't mattered that Urbosa was the strongest of the Gerudo and incredibly skilled with a blade, Daruk was notoriously oblivious. Link had never seriously fought the Goron before, but he didn't seem like the Champion he'd known. In his current state, Link had no doubt he could wipe the floor with the older boy.
Daruk stayed in his ready stance, feet planted firmly with his fists raised, "If you're gonna get married, then he extremely has to beat me first!"
Cocking his head to the side, Link glanced at the still bright blush on Mipha's cheeks before reaching a hand out and brushing it against hers. Her eyes found his easily, brushing her hand back in return, as the Hylian gave her a smile before he stepped up to face her brother. He didn't bother speaking, letting his body do the talking as he widened his stance and relaxed his shoulders.
Daruk charged at him with a yell, right fist moving quickly in a jab, but he might as well have been moving in slow motion. A sidestep and a quick grab of Daruk's outstretched arm combined with a twist of Link's hips brought the older boy off balance. The Hylian gave him no chance to recover, sweeping out his leg while the Goron stumbled to send him crashing to the ground. Link kept his grip on the other's arm, letting himself be brought down with the momentum so he wouldn't accidentally rip the arm out of its socket, and twisted it behind and up Daruk's back. The grip was just shy of painful, enough to let the former Goron know he was holding back, while he used his body weight to pin him down.
The older boy struggled for a moment, trying unsuccessfully to break free, but he stopped when Link pushed his arm further up his back in response. Daruk's pain tolerance was significantly higher than anyone else's his age, but it wasn't enough to handle having his shoulder nearly dislocated. Link relaxed his hold as soon as Daruk stopped fighting, removing his weight from the other and standing with a grin on his face, one that was returned once Daruk picked himself up off the ground.
The two boys made eye contact, an unspoken agreement passing through them, before they both reached out their hands and gripped the others tightly in front of them, "You better take care of my sister, little bro. Otherwise I'll beat you black and blue, to the extreme!"
Link gave him a determined look in return, even as the two of them tried to turn the other's hand into paste with the strength of their grip, and nodded in agreement. Mipha stepped up beside them and placed her hands over their own, a resigned look on her face even as Link felt the familiar soothing touch of her healing powers, "That's enough you two, there's no need for you to fight each other. We're far too young to be thinking of… Thinking of marriage. Or anything of the sort."
Link knew he was sometimes too oblivious for his own good, but he could clearly hear the disappointment in Mipha's voice. Physically a child he might have been, he was still considerably older in mind and soul, and he already had enough regrets from his first lifetime. He wasn't about to add to that list.
When the blue light of Mipha's Grace stopped, Link turned to the former Zora and reached out to her slowly. He gave her plenty of time to step away as his hand reached behind her and took hold of her long braid, bringing it forward between them and pressing his lips gently against it. The effect wasn't the same as it would have been if she was still physically a Zora, but it was an incredibly intimate gesture laden with meanings for the aquatic race.
The princess ducked her head shyly but managed to keep her eyes on him, the golden orbs misting with unshed tears. There was a small smile on her face, a timid, hopeful thing that Link wanted to protect with every fiber of his being. He failed her once, failed all the Champions, but he refused to do so again. This was truly a second chance.
