Disclaimer - I own nothing.


The Chosen Heroes

A Zelda/InuYasha crossover

Chapter Seven: Of Annoyance and Tales


Edited: 18/08/2012


"Ahh… I slept well." Kagome smiled and stretched her arms forward. Link sat across from her with Kirara perched on his right shoulder. "Link, did you sleep well?" She yawned.

"I slept well." He nodded. "Thank you for asking. But Kagome, I have something to ask you. Where did you get Kirara from?" Kagome stifled a laugh.

"Kirara isn't mine. She belonged to a deceased friend of mine," she exhaled a sigh. Link could tell she was sad. He felt a little bit bad about asking her this, but knew that he wanted answers. He had never seen a kitten quite like Kirara before, and wanted to know where she came from.

"How should I explain this?" She rubbed the back of her neck. "See a while ago, I travelled with a group of friends. There were six of us, including Kirara, and the female who owned Kirara before, said that if anything were to happen to her, she would want me to look after Kirara."

"Oh." Link blinked. "I see." Although he had more he wanted to ask, he decided to let the topic slide for now. Kagome was obviously uncomfortable with the given situation, and Link wanted her to feel safe talking to him.

"Anju, thank you for the food," Link smiled, turning around to watch Anju, the owner of the house, who appeared from the other side of the room. "The eggs you made are really good. You're a wonderful cook."

"Thank you," Anju blushed. "Really, Link, you are too kind."

He suppressed a laugh. "And you're too modest."

"My, my," her blush deepened. "I don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything," Kagome butted in. Anju blinked, surprised.

"I suppose… you're right," she mumbled and then walked off.

Link sighed. "Kagome, that wasn't very nice." From what he had observed, Kagome was typically quite kind. Now though, she was acting somewhat rude.

"I was not," she grumbled under her breath.

"You were too."

"Was not," she stuck out her tongue.

Link groaned and slapped his forehead. "No comment," he mumbled under his breath.

She grinned and flashed him a peace sign.

A sweat drop formed behind the back of his head. So far, this day was turning out to be odd, and it was only early morning. Link groaned gain and suppressed yet another sigh.


Kagome and Link waved goodbye to Anju, walking away from her house. Their newest destination was the general store, which was located in Kakariko village's main square.

"Hello. How may I help you two?" The shop owner greeted, smiling as Kagome and Link walked in. "Is there something of importance that you need?" He leaned across the counter, staring intently towards Kagome – more so, her tight ensemble.

"Maybe some Deku nuts, a Hylian shield, some arrows, or rather, something else?" After those last words escaped from his lips, Kagome realized what he was hitting at.

"Um, no thank you… Sir." Her face paled. She gulped. "I-I think I'll wait outside." Then with that, she scampered out the door. Link watched her retreating figure. Once she was outside, he turned around and glared towards the shop keep.

The shop keep smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"Women, eh?" he laughed, hoping to sway the conversation in another direction.

Link's eyes narrowed. He made no comment.

The shop keep gulped, fearful. "Sir, is there a-anything you need?" He stuttered, slowly backing away.

Link snarled. "I'm sorry," he sneered. "But there is nothing we need from this shop." Then without another word, he marched out the door, leaving behind a stumped shop keep.


"Ugg… the nerve of that man!" hollered Link as he kicked at the ground. "If he weren't the owner of the shop there, I would have surely raised my sword right there and then and—"

"Link," Kagome said interrupting him. "Are you okay?"

Link sighed and balled his hand into a fist. "I guess," he hissed.

"Were you mad by how that man was eyeing me in the shop?" She asked rather innocently.

"Huh?" He blinked.

"I knew it." She smirked. "I just knew it." She reached for Link's hand and held them within her own. "Link, you really do care for me. Don't you?"

"K-Kagome," he blushed, turning a shade of pink.

"You truly are my hero." She whispered, moving closer towards him.

"What… Kagome…" Link gulped, backing away. He withdrew his hands from hers quite quickly, and started to wave them madly. "What are you trying to imply?" He demanded his face still red.

Her composure cracked right there. Just like a spell casted, she broke out in to a fit of laughter. Link scowled from the side, not finding the joke – if you would even call that a joke – funny.

"Kagome, that wasn't funny!"

"Of course it was funny," she bellowed. "Your red face and expression were and still are absolutely priceless." A few fresh giggles escaped from her lips. Link's eyes narrowed.

"Well, I didn't find it funny at all. In fact, I found it rather rude." He glared towards her, holding back a snarl. Kagome's eyebrows shot up.

"Wow." She blinked and glanced towards the side. "I didn't think that would bother you so—"

"Snore… snore… snore…"

Someone interrupted her by… snoring?

She made a face. "What on earth?" Both heroes began to look around. Just unexpectedly, the snoring appeared. Link wondered if it were an attack, but shoved that thought to the very back of his mind. The snoring was excessively loud to begin with, and besides, who would use something as trivial as snoring to signal an attack?

He blinked.

"Its coming from here," Kagome groaned and stood in front of a house across from them. She had her hands placed over both ears and was glowering towards the door. Link sighed.

"This is so annoying." She grumbled under her breath. "Why aren't the others complaining?" She mumbled and glanced around the area. No one around them had paid any attention to the snoring whatsoever. In fact, they all looked to be more than used to it. Her jaw dropped.

"Huh?"

Link smirked. "Kagome, come on. We have what we need. So let's begin to make our way to the first temple."

"Hold on." She knocked at the door. "I want to find out who lives in this house."

"Why?" He demanded. Already, he did not like the sound of this.

"Because I want it to stop," she said simply.

"Stop what? The snoring? Why?"

"It's too loud," she explained. Kirara meowed in agreement. "And even though the villagers might not be saying anything about it, I'm sure they're just as annoyed."

"Kagome," Link sighed, holding his head down. "I don't think that a good idea. I mean what'll happen when the person wakes up. They'll be mad that you woke up them and a bad scene might break lose." Link cringed at the thought.

"So," Kagome shrugged her shoulders. When no one answered the door, she exhaled a loud sigh.

"This… is… so… annoying." She hissed.

This time Link sighed.

"I guess I'll just have to break in and wake up Mr. Loud Mouth on my own." She said and twisted the door handle. Luckily, it was unlocked. Link swore under his breath.

"Shit."

Kagome then walked in. Kirara jumped down from her shoulders and followed behind her. Even Navi fluttered into the house, purposely avoiding Link's hard glare.

"Navi," he whispered.

"I know. I know," she said. "But really, I do have to agree with Kagome. The snoring is really annoying." Link raised a brow. "Say Link, doesn't it sound… familiar?" She murmured.

"The snoring?" he said with a deadpanned expression.

Navi nodded, "Yeah... kind of like Talon, maybe?"

Link's eyebrows shot up. "You mean Talon, the proper owner of Lon Lon Ranch and father to Malon?" He looked dubious. "Navi, really, what would Talon be doing wasting his days away sleeping, while his daughter used to be stuck in a terrible situation?" He shook his head. "I highly doubt its Talon, Navi."

A sweat drop formed at the back of her head. "I think it's him," she said, her voice firm. "It sounds like his snoring, after all."

Beads of sweat formed behind Link's head. "No comment," he grumbled under his breath.

Across the way, Kagome stood in front of the snoring person. The man, who was tucked away underneath his covers and had his back facing them, looked quite content and at peace.

At least, until Kagome would ruin his slumber, Link thought.

Kagome cleared her throat. "Ahem."

The man didn't even stir. His snores however, grew louder.

She groaned. Link backed away, fearful.

"Mister," she said pleasantly. "Please, if you don't mind… WAKE UP!" The pots and pans hanging from the walls clacked and banged. The chairs fell over and the man sat up, his eyes wandering around the room in frenzy.

"Link, it is Talon!" Navi pointed out victoriously. "I was right."

"Good job, Navi," Link replied sarcastically. "I'm so impressed."

"There's no need to be rude about it, Link!" She hissed angrily.

He rolled his eyes.

"What in tarnation?" Talon shouted and scratched the back of his head. "Can't a person get any shut-eye around here?" He yawned.

"Yes, they can." Kagome nodded, "Unless they snore as loud as a gagging cow!"

"What?" He slurred. "I'm afraid that I don't understand, Miss." He replied, looking away innocently, "since I do not snore."

Kagome bit down on the inside of her cheek. This man reminded her of Toutousai, the conniving and lazy sword maker, and Myouga, the pesky, but highly intelligent flee from her travels back in Feudal Japan. Those two combined made up the man before her. She cringed at the thought.

"Bleh!" she stuck out her tongue.

"What's with that look?" Talon demanded. "I swear children nowadays show no manners for their elders." As he babbled on, Link decided to intervene.

"Talon, it's wonderful to see you again." Talon looked away from Kagome, and turned his attention towards Link.

His eyes lit up in realization. "Oh, now if it isn't the young forest boy who helped me out all those years ago." He sat up properly and extended his arms out wide, stretching. "I never thanked ya properly for helping me out back then. So, thank you very much."

"It was nothing," Link laughed. "If anything, Malon was the one who should be thanked."

"Malon?" exclaimed Talon in disbelief. "Oh, I worry about her so much. Ever since Ingo went nuts and kicked me out a little while ago. I can only imagine the horrible, cruel tasks he's making my sweet little Malon do." He placed his hands on his head and looked down towards the ground.

"It must be awful." He exhaled a sigh. Suddenly, a light went off inside his head. "Please boy, I beg of you, won't you go and rescue my Malon?" He dropped to his knees. "If you do, I'll let you marry her." Kagome would have spat out her water had she been drinking any. "I just know that she must be getting worked to the bone right now and—"

"Talon," Link interrupted him. "Nothing bad is happening at the ranch anymore. I dealt with Ingo and now there's nothing—"

"She must be so scared, wondering where her Daddy is and when the problems will stop," Talon sniffled. "I can only imagine just how bad it must be on her."

"Talon!" exclaimed Link. "It's all fine. You can go back to the ranch now. Malon is safe."

"Which is—wait, did you say that she's safe?" Talon spewed, jumping to his feet. Link nodded, cringing as Talon gripped onto his hands tightly. "Thank you my boy! Thank you. My, how you work fast," he laughed. Link laughed along with him nervously.

"I guess we do work fast," he said, watching Kagome.

Kagome sat down in a chair across from them with Kirara in her lap.

Navi flew down and rested on Link's shoulder.

"My boy," Talon said, sniffling. "Since you saved my ranch and helped out my daughter, I just know that you're her perfect match. Please come with me back to the ranch so that you can be married to her." Talon reached for Link's hand and started to drag him towards the door.

"Kagome!" cried Link, "help me!"

She nodded and stood up from her seat. "Wait!" She cried. "You can't have Link marry Malon."

"And why not?" exclaimed Talon as he turned around. "They're perfect for each other."

Kagome raised a brow upon noticing Link's quick change in composure. "While I'm sure they are… perfect for each other," she began, twitching. "Link doesn't have the time to marry your daughter. He has something very important he must attend to first, before he can even think of marriage. Isn't that right, Link?"

"That's right," he nodded fervently, pulling himself out of Talon's grasp once again.

"We both have a very important task to complete. Hyrule's future rests upon our shoulders."

"I see." Talon gulped, fearful. "Well… why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"We didn't want to worry you," Kagome confessed truthfully. Kirara meowed in agreement.

"It wouldn't worry me," Talon replied. "If anything, it would make me upset."

"Make you upset?"

"Yes." He wiped his eye, "Because you're already taken."

"Taken?" Link repeated. "What do you mean?"

"My boy, don't be so oblivious… your girlfriend is standing right in front of you."

"Girlfriend?"

"That's right," Talon nodded.

Link's face paled and Kagome froze. Clearly, both had not been expecting such an answer.

"Its too bad," Talon sighed, moving back towards the bed. "I was truly hoping that you would marry Malon. But since you're taken, there's nothing I can do." Glumly, he stared towards his feet.

Link frowned. He never liked to see people upset. Talon, especially, did not suit the emotion. Link knew that right away he should have opened his mouth and explained the situation to Talon – that he and Kagome were not together. However, it was the perfect solution to resolve the problem. And Link knew that if he opened his mouth to say anything else, trouble would only a rise. Thus, the simplest solution was to remain silent and hope that Kagome would keep quiet too.

"Talon, we must be going." Kagome said, heading towards the door.

"I understand." He nodded, a grin lighting his face. "You two want to continue your date."

"Date?" repeated a doubtful Navi.

"Go on now." Talon laughed. "You know you don't want to waste another minute of your date with an old man like me. So and go and enjoy the day."

"Gee, thanks," Link blanched.

"Thank you," Kagome smiled sweetly. "We will."

Talon blushed a light shade of pink.

"Come Link," Kagome called from outside. "We need to keep moving."

"I'm right behind you," he muttered, noticing the dubious look Talon was offering him. "I'm coming." He quickened his pace and darted out the door.


It was late in the evening. Link had suggested before they pitch camp to spend the night on top of a hill. That way, if anyone were to try to attack them, they would have a clear sightline before the enemy got too close.

Kagome withdrew a small package of food Anju had given to her from Epona's saddle.

"It's not much, but should be enough to keep you going for another day or two." Anju had said as she had passed Kagome the bundle of food earlier that morning.

Now, as she sat with Link, leaning against a rather tall tree, she offered him an apple. "Eat, you need your strength," she commanded in a kind tone.

"Thank you," Link nodded and accepted the apple.

Kagome watched him take the first bite and then turned away. "I'll add some more branches to the fire," she said and threw in two more armloads of brushwood. Since their campsite had a surprisingly hefty amount of branches scattered across the ground – which were not wet either, thankfully – it had been easy for both heroes to create a fire for the evening.

"Anju gave you these, didn't she?" Link asked a moment later.

"That's right," she nodded. "Anju wanted us to have some food for a few days of our journey."

"That's nice of her," he smiled. "She's always so considerate, thinking about others before herself."

"That's true." Kagome nodded.

Minutes soon passed, as all but silence was the sole voice of conversation. Link was busy eating yet another apple, and Kagome was busy feeding Kirara and Epona, did not mind the silence. It fact, it was nice. Enjoyable, refreshing even, to say the least.


Link laid back and stared up into the starry night sky. Navi was off to the side, flying in and out of some dandelions with the fireflies.

"Kagome, can you answer me something?" He murmured and sat up.

She looked up from the package of food she had been putting away. "Sure, what's on your mind?"

"Where did Kirara come from?" He then realized the error of his question. "And I don't mean from Malon."

"Oh." Her eyes softened. "Well… like I told you before, Kirara belonged to my deceased friend." She gulped a large amount of saliva. "I am now Kirara's guardian, I suppose you could say."

"But why does she have two tails… and red eyes?" Link was beyond curious by that aspect alone.

Kagome's eyes narrowed. "Do you—do you want to know the truth?" She breathed.

"Of course," Link nodded. She glanced down towards the ground. Tears started to form inside of her eyes. Link released a small gasp upon noticing her sudden change in composure. She went from calm and collected to fearful and nervous. Maybe asking her was a wrong idea.

"Kagome, if you don't want to explain, you don't have to. I understand if—"

"No." She shook her head. "Its good if you know. It's good to get it out in the open now then later." She exhaled a sigh. "It all started on my fifteenth birthday…"


"So what you're saying," Link licked his lips, "Is that Kirara and yourself come from another world. And that your deceased friends from that world sent her as a gift that would help you with our journey?"

"Yep, that about sums it up," Kagome nodded, looking towards Link hesitantly, almost expecting him to start laughing at any given second.

"Well then… I believe you, Kagome." Kagome's eyes widened.

"You, you're serious?" She gasped. Link merely nodded, smiling lightly.

"Of course I'm serious, Kagome. I wouldn't lie to you." Kagome's eyes softened while a single tear streamed down her cheek.

Link saw this, and instantly began to panic. "Ah, Kagome, did I say something wrong—"

"Link!" she shouted, interrupting him, as she launched herself onto him, causing him to fall backwards in shock.

"Gahh!" he shouted, clearly not expecting that. "Kagome, what are you doing?" He felt his cheeks turning a bright shade of red. This was not good.

She giggled and sniffled. "… Thank you."

"Thank you?" He repeated, "For what?"

She sucked on her bottom lip. "For listening and believing my story… it really means a lot to know that you believe me, Link." She said and wiped away another stray tear.

"Kagome," he rubbed the back of his neck. "You're too much."

"I guess," she smiled.

"Your friend that gave you Kirara was a demon slayer named Sango, correct?" He questioned, wanting to change the topic. Soft moments like this were too much for him to handle. They made him feel uncomfortable and nervous, since he didn't know how to properly respond to them.

Maybe it's a female thing; he wondered and shrugged his shoulders.

Oh, well… like it really mattered, anyway.

"That's right. Sango along with my other friends sent Kirara as a friend to help me." She drew her legs closer towards her, opting to sit in a tight form. "Miroku… Shippou, Rin… Koga… even Sesshomaru… and… and I-InuYasha," she hiccupped sadly. "All of them—my friends, I miss them so much."

"Kagome," Link murmured. "It's okay. They're in a better place and are watching over you now from Heaven. The very fact that Kirara arrived to this world and that note appeared with her is more than enough to back that fact up."

She sniffled. "You're right," she concluded, "As usual."

Link noticed a faint smile gracing her lips. Even though she was upset, she was still happy underneath all those layers of pain and heartbreak. That was good to know.

"Link… what is the Kokiri forest like?"

"Huh?"

"You heard me," she mumbled, glancing towards him. "What's it like?"

"Why do you want to know?" He questioned, curious.

Kagome shrugged her shoulders. "It's a new place. Somewhere I've never been to yet. I want to know what it looks like." She clasped her hands together. "Please tell me Link. Please." With her bottom lip trembling and eyes watering, Link couldn't refuse.

"Fine, what would you like to know?"

"Everything!" she laughed and fell backwards onto the grass.

"Ugg!" he groaned and slapped his forehead.

"Kagome… that'll take too long."

"Who cares, we have all night?"

"But we need sleep."

"We can go to sleep after you tell me about the Kokiri forest, okay?"

Link never replied to that comment, instead choosing to begin describing the setting of the forest to Kagome.